My New Family
by ToriCarter
Summary: Tsukiyomi Ikuto and Hinamori Amu have never met before. What happens when Ikuto's dad and Amu's mom decide to get married? What happens when Ikuto starts to have feelings for his new soon-to-be step-sister? AmuxxIkuto AMUTO!
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review! Updates may take a while in the future because of summer plans and because I'm also working on other stories at the same time.)

Summary: Tsukiyomi Ikuto and Hinamori Amu have never met before. What happens when Ikuto's dad and Amu's mom decide to get married? What happens when Ikuto starts to have feelings for his new step-sister?

Chapter 1

"You're getting married?" Amu asked, horrified.

"Honey, he's really nice and I think we'll have a really nice life together. He even has a son, a few years older than you. I haven't met him but Aruto talks so fondly of him and—"

"But Mom, I don't want to move!" Amu interjected. "I don't want to move in with strangers!"

"Honey, they're aren't strange…"

"I've never even _met_ him, not to mention his son that I've never heard about 'til now!" Amu exclaimed.

"Sweetie, I showed you pictures of Aruto. Isn't he handsome? And he's so kind and sweet and romantic—"

"Mom, I thought it was just harmless dating! Anyway Mom, whenever he brought you home I would always be asleep so I never got to meet him in person! And now you're getting married!"

Mrs. Hinamori looked at her daughter with a pained face. "Honey… I really love him. I'm happy with him. Does the idea of marriage make you feel that… unhappy?"

Amu felt guilt flood her. "No, Mom, just… I'm fine with it, okay? Don't be sad. I'll be fine." Mrs. Hinamori smiled and gave her daughter a hug.

"Oh Honey! This is going to be so much fun! Honey, I know this is the right thing to do! I can feel it!"

Amu sighed in her mother's embrace. She knew she was being out of character. She would never show these kinds of feelings with her "You're probably right…"

"You're getting married?" Ikuto asked, trying to hide his shock. "To that woman you're dating?"

"Yes, Ikuto. We decided it yesterday on our movie date," Aruto said with a smile.

Ikuto shrugged. "If you're sure."

"I am sure, Ikuto. She makes me happy! Oh, and she has a daughter a little younger than you are."

"A daughter? You've never told me that she had a daughter."

"Well, we never expected things to get this far," Mr. Tsukiyomi said with a smile. "I know that all of this will turn out great, Ikuto!"

"Sure, Dad."

They were going to have the wedding in the front yard of the Tsukiyomi house. Aruto was a famous violinist and was really rich as well and lived in a mansion. Mrs. Hinamori was driving Amu to his house so that they could all meet formally. They were going to start living in their house. The engagement party was going to be held a few days later.

When they got there, they saw Mr. Tsukiyomi on the stoop of his house.

"Midori!" he called out, stepping down the steps and jogging to the car. Mrs. Hinamori stepped out of the car and embraced her fiancé, giving him a kiss. Amu sighed and opened the car door and got out.

"Oh, Aruto, this is my daughter, Amu. Amu, this is Aruto!" Midori said with a smile.

"Hello, Amu-chan!" he said with a warm smile. "Nice to finally meet you. I've heard so many good things about you!"

"It's nice to meet you too," Amu said politely, shaking his hand. He looked nice enough, with dark hair and a bright smile. That she had seen in the photos, but in person, he seemed even nicer.

"Ikuto's out with his friends right now, I apologize for him not meeting you two in. Where's the moving truck?" Aruto asked with a smile.

"It was behind us—"

Just in time, the truck was seen turning the corner onto the pathway.

It stopped and the driver stepped out. "Oh, Midori! This place is wonderful!"

"Thank you, Macy-chan," Midori said. "Oh, and thank you for driving the truck for me! Amu didn't get her license yet and I didn't know what to do since I ordered the U-Haul truck without even thinking about it and already paid and everything!"

"No problem, Midori!" Macy said with a wide smile. Macy was one of Midori's closest friends from work. She wore bright red lipstick and had her light strawberry-blonde hair out and in curls. She was definitely the energetic type. "Now, just help me unpack this stuff and then I'll head back—Oh, unless you need me to help unpack? Oh, and hello Tsukiyomi-san! Nice seeing you again!"

"Nice seeing you, too, Smith-san. But, no, we don't need your help, thank you, though, for the offer," Aruto said with a smile.

"Well, alrighty then!" She turned towards the truck brfore whipping her head back again. "Oh, Amu-chan! It's so nice to see you again, Sweetie!"

"It's nice to see you too, Macy-san," Amu said with a nod and a forced smile.

Soon, everything was out of the back of the truck and Macy was waving her hand out the window as she sped off.

"She sure is… full of energy," Aruto laughed with a smile.

"Yes she is," Midori smiled back. "She really is a good friend once you get to know her."

"Oh, I believe you," Aruto said, leaning in to kiss his soon-to-be wife.

Amu turned her head quickly. _Gross! _she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. She then grabbed her suitcases and headed to the house after her mother and her soon-to-be stepfather.

The place was ginormous. Even bigger on the outside than in the inside.

"What about this?" Aruto suggested. "Amu-chan, why don't you go upstairs and find an empty bedroom? You can pick whichever one you want that's empty, Honey. Then you can get yourself settled in and meet your mother and me in the kitchen. We can have a tour of the house after that. Oh, and you could also pick a guest room if you want, although we do have some totally empty rooms that are there for your pick as well."

"Okay," Amu nodded.

"Oh, and Honey, don't forget your boxes are here too, okay?" Midori added.

"Yes, Mom."

Amu decided to first take her suitcases and then bring up her boxes and other furniture.

Any room huh? Amu walked through the hallway of the second floor. Why not see what rooms she had in total before making her final decision?

Most of the empty bedrooms that she found where big with a nice view. After looking at all of the rooms on the second floor, she went up to the third. There were tons of nice rooms in her mind right now. How was she going to decide? And how many damn floors were there in this house? She started roaming around the fourth floor. She reached the last door in the hallway and opened it. This was not empty. Nor was it a guest room.

This room was large and painted a dark blue. It had a large bed with black covers and dark blue pillows. There was a plasma TV in the room and a black leather couch. The walls were decorated with posters of famous musicians, pictures of unknown people to her, and different artwork. A desk was placed in the room and it was littered with papers and a large, slick laptop. Two sliding glass door led to a balcony.

She saw a bedside table next to the bed and on it was an alarm clock and a picture frame. She could make out the faint outline of a woman. She dropped her things and walked into the room without thinking and looked at the picture. It was of a woman with long blond hair and a bright smile. She was holding a baby in her hands, but the baby was asleep and bundled in covers but Amu could still see dark blue hair.

Amu looked around the room. It was nice. Who could've…? She mentally slapped herself. Of course. This must've been his son's room. She started feeling uncomfortable being in his room, and turned around to the doorway when she heard a voice behind her.

"Why the hell are you in here?" the voice said. Amu's eyes widened. The sound was coming from behind her, not from the doorway that she was facing. Behind. Her. Amu turned around. The balcony door was opened and next to it stood a tall teenager who looked no more than five years older than her. He had dark blue hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt and dark ripped jeans. How did he get in there? It couldn't have been from the balcony, could it?

Amu stared at him.

"You know, it's rude to stare," the guy said with a smirk.

"Shut up! I wasn't staring!" she yelled back. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"You know, I should be asking the questions. You are in _my _house and in _my _room."

"You're… room… You're… house…," Amu felt a deep blush form on her face. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

"Yep. So, you are?" the boy said, walking towards her and smirking at her. He leaned in towards her. "And is a girl like you in _my_ room?" A girl… like… Amu blushed violently and pushed him back.

"I'm Hinamori Amu!" she yelled. "My mom's Hinamori Midori and she's getting married to Tsukiyomi Aruto!"

The boy looked at her, probably processing it all in. Then he smiled. "Ah, so you're her daughter? Well, I guess we finally meet, Amu. I'm Ikuto, Aruto's kid."

Amu still felt the redness on her face. "Don't you have any sense? Don't call me Amu!"

He blinked. "That's your name isn't it?"

Amu blushed. "Well, yeah! But don't just call me Amu! If you had any respect you'd use a honorific!"

He laughed. "You're going to be my stepsister, why should I use an honorific?"

"Because it what you have to do," Amu said through gritted teeth. "At least until after the marriage."

Ikuto sighed and Amu smiled. She had won. "Fine. I'll use an honorific."

"Good."

"So, Amu-koi, why are you in my room again?" Amu's face flushed.

"Don't call me Amu-koi!" Amu yelled.

Ikuto laughed. "You're choice, Amu-koi. I could call you Amu_-koi_ or Amu. What will it be?" Amu fumed and Ikuto leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'll understand if you want me to use the honorific."

"No!" Amu yelled, pushing him away. "Call me Amu-san or at the very least Amu-chan—"

"No can do," Ikuto said, lying down on his bed, his arms behind his head.

"Fine," Amu said through gritted teeth. "Amu, then."

"Deal, as long as you call me 'Ikuto.'"

"No!"

"But, Amu-koi—"

"Fine! Ikuto, there, I called you Ikuto!"

"You should learn something about me, _Sis," _Ikuto said, standing up from his bed and moving towards her. Amu stepped back and found the wall behind her. He put one hand onto the wall beside her and leaned close. He smiled and leaned his face towards her. "I always get my way," he breathed. Amu felt his warm breath on his face. He was… really… close.. Her face was instantly red again. He then smirked and stepped back. "Oh, and you never told me why you were in my room, Amu."

Amu glared at him, but her face was still bright red. "I… was looking for a room." He looked at her. "You know, to be my room?"

He smirked. "So, you saw this room was occupied. Why'd you come in?"

"I saw the picture of your mom." Amu saw Ikuto's jaw tighten, and his smirk vanished. "I'm going to go find a room…" Amu moved towards the door and was about to turn it when she saw Ikuto smile behind her.

"Don't go too far Sissy," he said, lying down on his bed once more.

Amu decided on a bedroom on the second floor that had a nice view, a window seat, and a large balcony. The room was fairly large and didn't have any furniture except for a bed that was made and had a dull colored floral pattern. She thanked God that she had brought her own bedding.

She placed her suitcases into the bare room and went downstairs. She grabbed the boxes that had _Amu_ written on it and placed it into her room. Then went back to grab pieces of furniture that she could carry by herself easily up the stairs, like her lamp, her beanbag, her small bedside table, cushions from her chair that she would need help carrying, and a few rugs.

She started unpacking the clothes that she could hang up in the closet and then started taking off the sheets and bedding on the bed and replacing it with her own. The bed was nice and comfortable and was also fairly large. She placed her own pillows onto the bed, but left the old ones since they were comfy, it was just their cases that needed to be changed.

She placed her bedside table next to the bed and placed on it her own alarm clock the book that she was in the progress of reading. She then reached into the box and brought out her pictures. She had brought her album and her frames. She was going to decorate her bedside table, dresser, shelves, and walls with them. She sighed and opened up her album. It wasn't going to be like she would never see her friends again… the Tsukiyomi house wasn't _that_ far away. It was just more suburban and she lived more city. She would be going to a different school. The same as Ikuto. _Great, _Amu thought, rolling her eyes.

At least he was a senior and she was a freshman, although it wouldn't be a surprise if he was held back. She smiled at the insult she mentally thought for him.

She flipped through the album until she found the right picture. There she was with her best friends, Yaya, Rima, and Kukai. They had been together forever. Yaya had orange hair and wore a giant smile, Rima had a small smile and wore her blonde, wavy hair out like always, and Kukai smiled at the camera, giving it a big thumbs up, his green eyes gleaming with happiness. She stood in the middle of Yaya and Rima, smiling happily, not knowing that she would be moving away from them. It didn't help that they had all lived really close to each other. And now… they were going to different schools….

They reassured her that even though they were going to still be the best of friends and visit as much as they could, but the house was more or less thirty minutes away, driving, when before, it didn't take longer than five, walking, to get to the other's house.

She took out her phone and looked at it, longing to text them, to hear from them again, even though she had just seen them before the move. Sure, maybe she was over-reacting. But… still…

Amu walked down the stairs to get ask her mom or Aruto to help her with her other furniture when she ran into Ikuto. Again.

"Hey, Sis. Where you going?" he asked with a sly smile.

"I'm going to get my mom or your dad to help me take my furniture up to my room. Is that a problem?"

"No, no. But why don't I help you?" Ikuto said, placing his hand on top of the dresser.

"Why would you want to do that?" Amu asked coolly.

"Think of it as sibling bonding," Ikuto explained with a smile.

"Fine, just don't drop anything."

"Me? Have you looked at your arms? I don't think you got much muscle, Sweetheart. Or much of anything. Except maybe chubbiness."

"I am not chubby!" Amu yelled.

"Tell yourself what you want," Ikuto said with a smile. "We all know what's true."

"Y-you-!" Amu fumed.

Ikuto picked up one side of the dresser. "Hey, Amu? I think you should pick up the other side, just so we can get it up. Well, maybe it would be better if you didn't help…"

"YOU JERK!" Amu exclaimed.

Ikuto smiled innocently. "Let's go."

Surprisingly, after only ten minutes, all of her furniture was up the stairs and it the spot that she wanted it in and she was almost finished unpacking when Ikuto walked back into her room.

"Hey, Amu," he said, taking a look around the room before flopping down onto her bed and stretching out.

"Get off, idiot!" Amu yelled, placing a picture of her and Rima on her dresser.

"Fine, fine. I didn't know you wanted me by your side _that_ badly." Ikuto smirked as he got off the bed and walked over to her side.

"You—I didn't mean that!"

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, you going to tell me who all these people are, or do you want me to guess?"

"Sure, why don't you guess?" Amu said coolly. Ikuto shrugged.

"These are you're two best friend," he said pointing at a picture of Amu with Yaya and Rima. He looked at a picture of Kukai and Amu together and he looked like he was suppressing a laugh. "And this is your boyfriend?"

"No!" Amu exclaimed, face red. "That another one of my best friends!" It shouldn't have surprised her. Lots of people one time or another think that Kukai and she are a couple, but that is because of how close they are. They've known each other practically since birth, even longer than either of them knowing Rima or Yaya. He helped her out a lot, with giving her advice about life and how to deal with it. You'd never expect it from someone like him, since he was mostly always energetic and had a great sense of humor. You'd never expect him to be able to give great advice like that. But he knew when a situation is meant to be serious and when it wasn't.

"Oh, just a friend?" Ikuto teased, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm serious, Ikuto, he's just a friend."

"Is he one of these two's boyfriend?"

"No! We are all friends. _Best_ friends."

"Whatever," Ikuto said, looking around. He saw a picture that was nailed to the wall. It was of a goofy looking guy with light brown hair and he was taking a picture of a bird. Ikuto's expression changed. "Who's this?"

"That's my dad," Amu said casually. She hadn't exactly gotten over his death, but she wasn't going to stutter or hesitate anymore when saying that he was dead. It was simply fact and she moved on past that.

"Something happen to him?" Ikuto asked, examining the picture.

"Yeah. He died. Six years ago. He got in the middle of a shooting." Ikuto looked at her, probably trying to see if she was going to cry. But no. She had said this story too many times to cry again.

"My mom's dead too. Twelve years ago. Cancer," Ikuto said.

"I'm sorry," Amu said. He shrugged. She noticed that he was probably the only person who didn't apologize to her, after hearing about her father's death.

Ikuto looked back at her and smiled. "So, Amu. What are you going to do now, since you unpacked and stuff?"

"I'm going to go down and your dad is going to show me and my mom a tour of the house."

Ikuto smirked. "Why don't you let me take you on a tour?"

"How about no?" Amu nodded towards him and then rushed out of the room.

Ikuto sighed. It was funny, getting to tease her as much as he wanted. He lay back on her bed and looked back up at the ceiling. So, this was his soon-to-be stepsister. Well, she wasn't too bad. The pink hair had surprised him a bit. He instantly wondered what her real hair color was, but after seeing her mom's hair and now her dad's, he knew it was some shade of brown. Probably light brown.

She was actually pretty cute… for his soon-to-be stepsister anyway. Not like anything more than that. But then why… did his heart race when he saw her in his room? When he accidentally-on-purpose bumped into her on the staircase? Why had he been hoping really hard that the orange haired boy in the picture with her wasn't her boyfriend? Ikuto rolled onto his side and scowled. He hated not figuring this out right away. Whatever… it's not like anything would happen between them. She was going to be his sister, after all. No, not sister. _Step-_sister.

(A/N: Next update: soon, but undecided!)


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Engagement Party

Bridal Shower

Rehearsal

Rehearsal Dinner

Bachelor Party

**WEDDING!**

Chapter 2

It was the day of the engagement party. It was going to be held at seven o'clock and everybody was getting ready. It was almost six-thirty.

The decorations were already hung and the table was set. Amu was surprised to find that there was an old housekeeper that helped around the house. Mrs. Franklin. She was stout and proper and poise and was probably in her mid-sixties, but still had excellent posture. At the moment, Mrs. Franklin was fixing dinner.

Amu stood in her room looking at herself in the mirror. She wore the new dress that Aruto had picked out for her. It was knee length and a light shade of pink. It was a sleeveless dress that was complete with a white trimming at the bottom. She looked at the jewelry on her desk, some of which was given to her by Aruto or her mother, some that was her own. She decided on the golden chain with a heart shaped charm, a golden necklace and her special diamond ring that her father had given her for her seventh birthday. Back then it was too big for her fingers and she would always wear it on a necklace, but now, it fit her ring finger perfectly. She would always wear it on her right hand though, so people wouldn't get the wrong idea.

Amu fixed her hair so it flowed out and over her shoulders and she gave herself a smile. She should be excited. At least her friends were coming!

"Nice dress," a voice said. Amu whipped her head around to see Ikuto smirking at her from the doorway. He was wearing a black tuxedo complete with a black bow-tie. His hair was the same, messy. It didn't look like he was going to comb it down or anything.

"Pervert," Amu scowled at him, redness coming to her cheeks. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Don't worry, Amu. I just got here. You know, I helped pick out that dress for you. Of course, I didn't know what you looked like when I helped my dad buy it. It's good that it looks so… nice… on you."

"Yeah, well…. Thanks, I guess…," Amu said, looking at herself awkwardly in the mirror.

"So, I heard that your friends are coming?"

"Yeah."

"You'll introduce me to them, right?"

Amu looked at him. "Yeah."

Ikuto smiled and nodded. "Is Kukai coming too?"

"Yes, Ikuto, he counts as one of my friends."

"Okay, okay. No need to be so harsh about it," Ikuto smirked.

"Just… go away, okay?"

"No." Amu groaned and decided to ignore him. But he didn't stop talking. "My friends are coming too, you know. Only my closest. I'll be sure to introduce you to them. By the way, I don't have a girlfriend."

Amu whipped her head towards him and stared at him. "Why the hell would I care if you had a girlfriend or not?"

Ikuto smiled slyly. "I know the question keeps you up at night, Amu. But don't worry, I'm single."

"What the hell? What kind of lies are you thinking about? I don't care if you have a girlfriend or not! I haven't even thought about it!"

Ikuto smirked and was about to leave the room when he said, "Sure, Amu. Keep denying it."

Amu was about to yell at him when she realized the he wasn't there. He had left.

"Aw, dammit! Out of all the future stepbrothers in this world, I'm stuck with him!" Amu fumed. She grabbed her dangly earing and put them in. "There. Now let's go see if Yaya, Rima, or Kukai have come yet." Amu checked her watch. It was almost seven.

"AMU-CHI!" a high voice called. Amu turned to see Yaya running towards her at full speed. "AMU-CHI, AMU-CHI, AMU-CHI!" Yaya then tackled Amu and hugged her tightly. "YAYA MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

"Yaya," Amu laughed. "It's only been a few days."

"BUT YAYA STILL MISSED AMU-CHI!" Yaya cried out.

Amu returned the hug and then stepped back to see Rima and Kukai walking up behind her.

"Hey, Amu!" Kukai exclaimed, giving her a warm hug. He stepped back and then it was Rima's turn to give Amu a hug.

"Hey, Amu," she said.

"Doesn't it feel like we haven't seen each other for weeks, Amu-chan?" Kukai said with his famous large smile. Yaya nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Amu said with a sigh. She then smiled at her friends. "Probably because we are always together, except for those vacations we'd have with our own families."

The four friends smiled at each other and group hugged.

Then they heard someone clear their throat behind Amu.

Their hug broke and Amu turned to see Ikuto standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Amu-koi, I think you should introduce your friends to me, don't you?" he said. Amu heard her friends gasp. Of course. A tall teenager had just called her koi and they didn't know who is was.

"Amu-chi! You didn't tell Yaya you have a boyfriend!" Yaya whined.

"Or me, Amu," Rima said coolly.

"Amu, why didn't you tell me? You tell me everything!" Kukai said. "Ah, well. Nice to meet you! I'm Kukai!" Kukai smiled at Ikuto. Ikuto gave him a smile.

"Yes, yes. So Amu-koi, I think you're mother needs you," Ikuto said.

"Ikuto! Stop it with the koi crap!" Amu fumed. She turned to her friends. "Guys, this is Ikuto. _Tsukiyomi_ Ikuto, as in Tsukiyomi Aruto's kid! He's going to be my new stepbrother!"

"Oh," her friends said in unison.

"Aw, Amu. You ruined the fun," Ikuto said, putting his hands on her bare shoulders, sending a shiver down her spine.

Amu shook off his hands and turned towards him. "Ikuto. This is Rima, Yaya, and Kukai."

Ikuto looked at them for a moment with a serious face. He seemed to be thinking about something long and hard. Then his expression lightened and he smiled.

"Nice to meet you Ikuto-san!" Yaya said with a smile. Rima gave him a nod.

"It's awesome to finally get to meet you, Ikuto-san!" Kukai said with smile. "Hope you don't mind me calling you by your first name. It's just that I already am calling your dad Tsukiyomi-san."

"It's alright," Ikuto said carefully. "Oh, and Amu. I was serious about your mom, you know. She needs you."

Amu rolled her eyes. "Fine. Guys, I'll be right back. Oh, and you guys can sit down, eat, and whatever." Amu turned and walked away.

Ikuto looked at her friends, particularly Kukai. He was pretty fit, fitter than the pictures gave him credit for. He kept on smiling and Ikuto noticed his eyes followed Amu walk away. He also noticed that Kukai called her _Amu_ and Amu called him _Kukai. _

Ikuto smirked.

"So, how long have all of you known Amu?"

"Well, Yaya and Rima have known Amu-chi since kindergarten," the orange haired girl, Yaya said.

"I've known practically since birth," Kukai said with a smile. "We've been best friends ever since!"

"It sounds like you two are pretty close," Ikuto noted.

"Well, yeah!" Kukai said with a smile.

Ikuto looked away for a moment. So… these two were pretty close, huh?

"It seems you two have become pretty close as well," the blonde one, Rima said.

"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Ikuto asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Well you only call her 'Amu' and she only calls you 'Ikuto,' Ikuto-san," Yaya said with a smile.

Ikuto didn't respond but he smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Ikuto-san? You'll take care of her, won't you?" Kukai said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean?" Ikuto asked, innocently.

"Well, Amu-chi isn't very good with change," Yaya said.

"I've known Amu for a long time," started Kukai. Ikuto mentally rolled his eyes. _Go ahead. Keep repeating that fact, Kukai. Yes, we all understand, you two have known each other 'since birth,' _Ikuto thought. _Dammit, this has to stop getting to me! _ "And she's more sensitive than she looks. After her father died, she would pretend like it didn't affect her. Whenever someone said they were sorry about her dad's death, she would just turn her head and say it didn't matter."

"She's vulnerable, though," Rima said. Ikuto shrugged. Rima stepped towards him and gave him a cold glare. "You _better_ take care of her. We won't always be around now to help her out."

"Hey guys!" Amu called from behind them. They stopped the conversation as Amu reached them. "Hey come on, let's party!"

They went outside to where a dance floor was built onto the grass.

"Hey, Amu. Wanna dance?" Kukai asked with a large grin. He gave her his hand.

"Sure," Amu said with a smile. They went onto the dance floor and started dancing to some upbeat song from a band that his dad liked. Ikuto tried to hide his frown.

"Look at that, Yaya. They left us again," he heard Rima say bitterly. Again?

"Yeah! Amu-chi and Kukai-kun always leave Rima-chi and Yaya alone!" Yaya whined. Ikuto scowled and then an idea popped into his head. He would have to do this before his friends got there. Lucky for him, his friends always arrived late, or as they called it, 'making an entrance.'

Ikuto walked over to the DJ, a family friend of his that was a year older than him.

"Hey, Ikuto-kun!" he said with a toothy smile as Ikuto approached. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, Hiro. It's been a while. Hey, can I make a request?"

"Sure, go ahead." Ikuto whispered the name of the song to him. Hiro crinkled his nose. "Man, I've never would've expected that song to come out of your mouth. You sure?" Ikuto nodded slyly. Hiro seemed to understand. "Ah, there's a lady involved, isn't there?"

Ikuto shrugged. "You could say that."

"Okay, I get it now. Sure thing, once this song is over, I'll play that for you."

"Thanks, Hiro."

"Don't mention it."

Ikuto walked over to the dance floor. He had to time this right. He watched as Amu shacked her hips to the beat next to Kukai who also seemed to be enjoying himself. The song finally came to an end and Ikuto made his way across the dance floor and placed his hand on Amu's shoulder.

"Hey, Kukai. You wouldn't mind if I took Amu for the next dance, would you?" Ikuto said.

"No, of course not!" Kukai said with a smile. Kukai left casually and went over to Yaya and Rima who were sitting at a table.

"You know, you should also ask me if it's all right," Amu said sourly.

Ikuto smirked. "I already know you can't resist me, Amu-koi."

"Will you stop it with the koi!" Suddenly the song that Ikuto requested started to play and he smirked as Amu caught the drift. "This is a slow song."

"Thank God, you're not tone deaf after all."

"Shut up!" Ikuto slid his arms around her waist, which happened to catch her by surprise.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, trying to push herself away.

"It's called dancing. Come on, _Sis_. What do you have to lose?" Ikuto said with a smile.

"Fine. One dance," Amu muttered. She put her arms around Ikuto's neck and Ikuto smiled down at her as the lyrics began of Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley started. (A/N: Aruto is into Elvis.)

Ikuto looked into her eyes. They were actually very pretty. They were a deep golden, so different than his blue eyes.

"What are you doing?" Amu asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

Amu glared at him, broke her grip around his neck and moved her hand to her back where she pushed up his hands. "Pervert."

Ikuto rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Amu. You're my soon-to-be-stepsister. You need to stop being paranoid."

"I'm not being paranoid! You're being perverted!"

"Damn, you think every little thing I do counts as being perverted."

"That's because every little thing you do _is _perverted!"

"Can you just shut up and enjoy the song?" Ikuto asked with a sly smile. "You should listen to the lyrics."

"I know how the song—" Amu stopped. Ikuto smirked. She probably finally seemed to realize what this song was saying.

(A/N: A few lines from the song: )

_Wise men say, _

_Only fools rush in. _

_But I can't help falling in love with you. _

_Shall I stay?_

_Would it be a sin?_

_If I can't help falling in love with you. _

_Like a river flows, _

_Surely to the sea, _

_Darling so it goes, _

_Some things are meant to be. _

_Take my hand. _

_Take my whole life, too. _

_For I can't help falling in love with you. _

Ikuto leaned in while they were dancing and whispered in Amu's ear, "For I can't help, falling in love with you…" Amu broke their dance.

"What the hell?" Amu hissed.

"What? Can't I sing a long? Really, Amu. You're so jumpy," Ikuto sighed. Sure… That's all he was doing… Singing along…

"Oh… sorry," Amu said, her cheeks turning a bright red. Ikuto smirked. She was blushing again.

"Now, will you finish the dance with me?"

"Fine," Amu said, rolling her eyes as she put her arms around Ikuto's neck and he put his arms around her waist.

The song slowly ended and Ikuto twirled her around for the finish.

"Yo, Ikuto!" Ikuto turned to see his friends walking up to him. On the other side of the dance floor, Amu's friends were walking over to them, as well. They all met up with them at the same time.

"Hey, guys," Ikuto said. He looked around at all the faces and sighed. "I guess I'll be the one making the introductions." He placed his hands on Amu's shoulder. "Guys, this is Hinamori Amu, my soon-to-be stepsister. Amu, this is Hoshina Utau," he pointed at the girl with long blonde hair that was pulled into two long pony-tails. She gave Amu a slight nod. "Fujisaki Nagihiko," he moved his hand over to the boy with long light blue hair pulled back into a low ponytail for the occasion. At least he knew better than to put it into a high ponytail, or he'd look like a girl for some unknown reason. Nagi smiled at all of them said hello. "And Sanjo Kairi." He nodded towards the last of his close friends that had light green hair and glasses. Ikuto and his friends would always tease him about being the nerd of the group, but it was okay because they were all friends. If anyone else teased him, well they'd have to put up with  
Ikuto, and most dangerously, Utau. Utau was always protective of her friends and she didn't mind punching a guy or two to get her point across.

"It's nice to meet you," Kairi said.

"It's nice to meet all of you guys too," Amu said with a smile. "Oh, and this are my friends, Yaya, Rima, and Kukai!"

"Cool meeting you guys!" Kukai said with a big smile. Ikuto noticed thought he saw something flicker through Utau's expression when Kukai spoke. Hmm…

"So you guys are Ikuto-san's friends?" Yaya said.

"Yeah, we are, unfortunately," Nagihiko said with an innocent smile.

"Shut up, Nagi," Ikuto said, rolling his eyes.

"Lighten up, Ikuto," Nagi said, laughing slightly.

"So do you guys live around here?" Amu asked.

"Yeah, but we usually drive here," Utau said simply.

"You guys drive?" We stared at her blankly. That must've been the stupidest thing she's ever said. Her face turned a very cute shade of red. "Oh—sorry! I mean, I didn't mean—It's just I didn't get my license yet so—"

"It's all right, Amu! Don't worry about it!" Kukai said with a smile. Ikuto then thought he saw something flicker through Utau's face again… jealousy maybe? Nah, she wasn't like that… But maybe…

"Yeah, we drive. But Kairi does most of it," Nagi answered. "He is the only one with his own car."

"You didn't get your license yet?" Utau asked.

Amu blushed. "Yeah… I sort of didn't pass the exam… Something about… running over a—Never mind."

"I could teach you if you want," Ikuto said with a smile. "I'm a pretty good driver. Ask anyone."

"No, thank you. I just need to study more," Amu said with a scowl.

"Sure," he said sarcastically, with an innocent smile. "Hey, why don't we go inside and sit down? I think it's almost time for dinner."

Everyone agree and they headed inside the house to eat.

(A/N: Next update will be as soon as I can )


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review! Oh, and I'm putting in a little Kutau, XD)

Engagement Party

Bridal Shower

Rehearsal

Rehearsal Dinner

Bachelor Party

**WEDDING!**

Chapter 3

The engagement party was over and a few days later Ikuto had gone out with his friends to the park.

"She seems nice," Utau said, lying down on the grass, looking up at the sky.

"Who?" Ikuto asked, lying on the low tree branch.

"Who else?" Utau sat up and looked at her other friends. "Your almost stepsister."

"Oh, yeah. She's cool," Ikuto said, stretching out on the branch.

"Seems more like just cool, Ikuto," Nagi teased from the bench he was sitting on. "You guys looked pretty cute dancing together."

"Shut up, Nagi. That's gross. She's going to be my sister," Ikuto said, rolling his eyes.

"Actually," Kairi started, as he adjusted his glasses. "There's nothing wrong with step-siblings getting together."

"Come on guys," Ikuto said. "You know that will never happen."

"Knowing you, anything's possible," Utau said with a smirk.

"Hey, speaking of getting together. Utau, you seemed to be interested in Amu's friend _Kukai_."

A sudden redness covered Utau's cheeks and her eyes widened. "W-what the hell are you talking about?"

"What Ikuto says is true, Utau-chan. I've noticed you staring at him in a particularly different way," Kairi noted with a small smile.

"It's alright, Utau, just admit it," Nagi said with that innocent smile of his.

"Shut up! All of you!" Utau yelled, her face bright red. We all snickered. Utau wasn't really one to have crushes and when she just had one out of the blue and really fast like that, they had to tease her a little.

"Hey, I admit I thought that that blonde friend of Amu's was pretty cute," Nagi said, smiling.

Utau was looking away from us. "You guys stink."

"Hey, Utau? You going to the bridal shower?" Ikuto asked.

Utau shrugged. "I guess so. It doesn't really matter though."

"Aw, come on, Utau," Nagihiko said with a casual smile. "Then you can do some bonding with Hinamori Amu."

"Ikuto, what do you want us to call Hinamori Amu?" Kairi asked suddenly. Ikuto turned to look at his friend.

"What?"

"Well, she is your soon-to-be stepsister and even though we usually do not use honorifics, I wanted to know if it mattered to you what we called her."

Ikuto shrugged. "Call her whatever you like. You guys are my friends, anyway, so it doesn't matter what you guys call her." Ikuto smirked. "She might care though."

Utau looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"Well, she's a little touchy about it," he said. Then he added in a softer voice, "Or maybe that was just because it was me."

"You know, Utau, I think you look good with Kukai," Nagi said, bringing up the past conversation.

Utau's face burned again. "W-what?"

"As boyfriend and girlfriend," Nagi explained, smiling.

"NAGIHIKO!" Utau yelled.

They all laughed, except for Utau who was full of embarrassment.

Utau stared at her laughing friends. _They're so annoying, _she thought. _This is what happens when all of your best friends are guys, Utau. _Utat sighed. _Dammit. Why did that boy catch her attention so easily? Sure… he was cute… but I've seen a lot of cute guys. _But she'd never crushed on them… She remembered that before, Ikuto was her crush, but that was years ago and he was only a friend to her now. She loved him, but like a brother. Like a best friend. Utau sighed again and buried her head in her knees. _Whatever, he probably likes that Amu girl, anyway. You can see it in his eyes. _She still wondered what attracted her to him like that? There was something about him… that she'd never seen in the other guys she's met before. Something optimistic. Something bright. Maybe it was because from what she'd seen, he was the exact opposite of her. And didn't people say opposites attract?

"Hey, Utau," Ikuto said, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Utau snapped.

"I can get you his cell phone number if you want," he said with a smirk. She heard Nagi and Kairi snickering that lead to even more laughing. But… Utau knew that Ikuto could actually do that. He could actually get her his cell number-!

_Stop it, _Utau thought. _Stop thinking about that! God, Utau, get a hold of yourself. _

She decided not to respond, but she did yell at Kairi and Nagi for laughing.

Who knows. Maybe Ikuto would get her the number…

"Mom!" Amu called to her mother. Midori turned.

"Oh, hi, Honey," she said with a smile.

"Who else is coming to the bridal shower tomorrow night?" Amu asked.

"I don't know, Sweetie. Mostly, the women from my side of the family, my girlfriends, your girlfriends, the women from Aruto's side of the family, and some of Aruto's friends who are girls, I think. Sweetie, I'm not really that sure."

"Oh, okay," Amu thought. Hey, at least Rima and Yaya were coming! Maybe that friend of Ikuto's who was a girl would come too! Although, she seemed a little cold to her in Amu's point of view. Speaking of Ikuto… "Hey, Mom, do you know where Ikuto is?"

Midori thought for a moment. "Oh! Yes, Aruto said that Ikuto had gone out with his friends. Do you want to go meet up with them?"

"Uh, no thanks…," Amu said turning red. Why did she even ask about Ikuto?

"Well, okay. Oh, Honey! Did you get Ikuto's number?"

"Um… no?" Amu said.

"Well, I think you should need it. I mean, he is going to be your brother, you know. I can get it from Aruto if you want!"

"No thanks, mom, uh I'll just ask him for it…"

"Well, all right then!" Midori walked away while humming the song _Here Comes The Bride. _

"Like I'm going to ask Tsukiyomi Ikuto for his number," Amu muttered to herself. Knowing him, she wouldn't hear the last of it.

"Hey, wait, mom!" Amu called after her mother.

Her mom turned. "Yes?"

"Can I hang out with my friends today? I already called them and they said they were free."

Midori thought for a moment. "How will you get into town?"

"I'll drive—I mean…" Dammit. No license. "Uh, I'll walk."

"Honey, that'll take a long time. Here, Ikuto-kun has his own car, why don't you wait for him to come home and then ask him to take you into town?"

"Mom, no, I can just ask Kukai or Rima to drive up here to get me—"

"Sweetie, that's very rude. And, I think that Ikuto-kun and you should spend more time together, get to know each other more. Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea! Ask him to spend the day with you and your friends, unless he's doing anything." _Mom, _Amu thought. _I have spent… enough time with Ikuto… For the love of everything, Ikuto have something else to do! _

Suddenly they heard the front door open and Ikuto walked in. "Speak of the devil," Amu muttered under her breath.

"Oh, Ikuto-kun!" Midori called. Ikuto turned his head to them and walked over to them.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind taking Amu into town?" Midori asked. Amu looked away. She could just feel the smirk forming in Ikuto's mind. At least Ikuto was smart enough not to smirk at that in front of her mom. "Amu wanted to spend the day with her friends today, and she needed a ride. Oh, and then I was wondering if you would spend the day with her and her friends, if you didn't have anything else to do today! You know, since you two will become siblings!"

"Well, I was just getting my wallet and going to go to the movies with my friends—" Ikuto started.

Amu smiled. "See Mom? He has other things to do so—"

"But I think that they'd be more than happy to have Amu and her friends join us."

Midori squealed in happiness. Something on Hinamori Midori, a woman that was in her thirties, would do.

"Oh this is just wonderful, isn't it, Amu?" Midori said with a large smile on her face. "Well go on."

Amu glared at Ikuto and he responded with an innocent smile.

"Great. Let me call my friends and tell them… the great news…," Amu said, pulling out her cell.

"Oh, you can do that in the car. See ya, now!" Midori said, pushing them out the door.

Ikuto smirked at her in the car. She was riding in the passenger's seat of the Toyota van. This wasn't his first choice in cars, he was initially going to take _his_ car, the silver Mercedes, but he needed eight seats.

"You shouldn't have said that," Amu said sourly.

"What?"

"Dammit… why you have to go and invite us to the movies?"

"Oh, don't act like you don't like it, Amu," Ikuto said with a smile. "Now, since my friends are closer, I'm going get them first, okay?" Amu shrugged and Ikuto smirked. "I know it's a drag, Amu. We should've gone just me and you."

Amu whipped his head around, her face red and her eyes narrowed. "NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" yelled Amu. Ikuto smirked and didn't respond.

He then pulled up into the drive way of Utau's, Kairi's, and then Nagihiko's drive way. Soon it was the five of them in the van. Amu had already called her friends and they all thought the idea of going to the movies was great. Ikuto smiled.

Soon, they were in town, and they picked up Yaya, Rima, and Kukai. At that moment, Ikuto was in the driver's seat, Amu was in the passenger's seat, Kairi, Utau, and Nagihiko were in the first three seats in the back, Rima, Kukai and Yaya were in the three seats in the way back, the third row. Ikuto then had a thought and pulled over.

"Hey, what are you doing?" asked Amu.

"Ikuto, we're going to miss the movie," Utau said.

"Do we have a flat?" asked Nagi.

"No. I just can't see very well," Ikuto said.

"Huh?" Amu said.

"Kukai, you're very tall and I need to see straight in the back. And there's not a whole lot room back there to duck your head down. Kairi, switch with Kukai."

"Huh?" Kukai and Kairi said unison.

"Shut up, I just explained it. Trust me. If Kukai's height is a problem in your seat, Kairi, he'll have more room to move his head down comfortably. Now. Switch," Ikuto said plainly, rolling his eyes. Ikuto smirked as he saw Utau's eyes widen. Utau was sitting in the middle of the first three seats. Next to Kairi. So if Kairi and Kukai switched. She'd be next to… Utau glared at him, but her face was still bright red. Ikuto was so nice!

Kairi and Kukai switched and then Kukai and Utau were sitting next to each other. Kukai, didn't seem to notice what Ikuto was doing.

Utau was going to kill Ikuto. Who did he think he was to play matchmaker? Especially with her!

Okay… so Kukai was sitting next to her… no big deal… That is until he started talking to her.

"Hey, your Hoshina Utau-san, right?" he said with a smile.

"Yeah," Utau said coolly. She saw Ikuto eyes in the rearview mirror. She could tell he was enjoying this. Utau gritted her teeth.

"I'm physicked to see this movie! I heard that it's really cool!"

"Yeah…" Utau felt something on her lower thigh. She looked to see what it was and her eyes widened and her face grew bright red. It was his leg. Utau quickly moved her leg, hoping he didn't notice. He didn't seem to have done it on purpose.

"Hoshina-san, is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Don't call me Hoshina-san."

She looked at his face. Oh God… he looked confused… so… cute…

"Uh, Utau-san?"

"Fine," Utau said, not looking at him.

"Okay!" Kukai said with that cute smile of his.

"Hey, Kukai? Could you move over a little?" Ikuto said.

"Huh? Yeah, sure." He moved over towards the window.

"No, no. Other side." Utau's eyes widened. Ikuto. You. Freaking. Idiot. Kukai moved slightly to his other side, which just so happened to be the side where Utau was sitting. Now, he was even closer than before.

"Oh, eh, sorry, Utau-san. This might make you a little uncomfortable," Kukai said.

"Whatever," Utau said casually. She saw Ikuto's eyes again. _I'm going to strangle him,_ she thought sourly. That's when the idiot that was Ikuto turned the car hard to the left, causing Utau to fall onto Kukai.

"Ikuto!" Amu yelled. "What was that?"

"Sorry, thought I saw something. Anyway, we're almost there," Ikuto said.

Utau then realized where she was. On Kukai's… chest.

"You okay, Utau-san?" Kukai asked. Utau looked up and their eyes locked. _Oh God, oh God, oh God, _thought Utau. She quickly sat up, her face a shade of red she didn't even know existed.

"I'm fine," she said quickly.

"That's good!" Kukai said with a smile.

"We're here," Ikuto announced, pulling into the parking lot of the theatre.

They all got out and Utau went up to Ikuto and punched him.

"What?" Ikuto asked innocently.

"I know you did that on purpose, Ikuto," Utau hissed. "Now stop it!"

She then turned to see Amu laughing at something that Kukai had just said, and Kukai laughing with her. Utau's heart sank.

Ikuto looked over to see Kukai and Amu laughing together and his eyes narrowed. He then saw Utau scowling at the ground. "Come on, Utau. I have an idea."

They all walked into the theatre and purchased their tickets.

They had all wanted to see different things. Yaya wanted to see the Lorax. Utau wanted to see some horror movie, like Ikuto. Amu and Rima wanted to see some chick flick, although Amu soon said it was uncool after first saying all childish that she's wanted to see that movie since it came out. Nagi, Kukai, and Kairi didn't really care as long as it wasn't G rated, cheesy, or a chick flick. So it was decided they see an Indiana Jones movie.

They entered the theatre and went to sit in the back row. The seating arrangement was Ikuto at the seat next to aisle, next to him was Utau, then Kairi, then Nagi who sat next to Rima, then Yaya, then Kukai, and finally Amu. Ikuto wasn't happy at all with the fact that Amu and Kukai were sitting next to each other. But that would change soon enough.

The movie started. Ikuto didn't really pay attention though. He was thinking of his certain idea…

Did Amu like scary things? No. Did Amu like blood? No. This is why she had wanted to see a chick flick. But she didn't want to admit that something like Indiana Jones could frighten her. The movies were actually pretty good. It was just those scenes…

"Hey, Amu, I need to go to the bathroom, all right?" Kukai whispered to her.

Amu nodded, not looking at him. This scene was just interesting with Indiana Jones and the girl…

The movie went on and she heard Kukai sit back in his seat, although her eyes were still glued to the screen.

Then came that scary scene. (A/N: I don't really remember the Indiana Jones movie that well so I'm sorry if it's not detailed enough or not accurate.)

Amu grabbed onto Kukai's hand and squeezed it. _Don't die, _she thought. _Don't die. Don't die! _Her eyes were wide. She squeezed onto Kukai's hand harder. Then when the climax of the scene came, Amu buried her head into Kukai's chest, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt his arms wrap around her. This would usually happen when they went to see a movie and something scared her.

It didn't mean anything. But she liked that Kukai was there to comfort her. She heard the struggles of the fight in the movie and she buried her head deeper into Kukai's chest.

Then the sounds of fighting stopped and she knew that it was almost the end of the movie. She opened her eyes and turned back to the screen to see the final scene and then the ending credits. She sighed with relief and loosened her grip on Kukai's hand. That's when she realized something. His hand felt different. It was bigger than she remembered and rougher. She turned and her mouth almost fell open.

"Hey, Amu. Nice movie, huh?" he said. But that wasn't Kukai sitting next to her.

"IKUTO?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes?" he asked, like nothing was different.

"W-what-? How long have you been here?" Amu shouted.

"Oh, a while. Half the movie, maybe?" Ikuto said casually.

Amu thought. The only time Kukai had gotten up was to go to the bathroom… did…

"I know what you're thinking," Ikuto said calmly. "And you're right. Kukai had gotten up to go to the bathroom and when he came back, he agreed to switch seats with me."

Amu was just in shock. So she hadn't been holding Kukai's hand. She had been holding Ikuto's hand. She hadn't buried her face in Kukai's chest. She had buried her face in… Ikuto's… chest… and it was Ikuto's arms that wrapped around her…. Not… Kukai's.

"You've… got to me kidding me," Amu said.

"Nope," Ikuto said smirking.

"Hey, come on, guys! Let's go!" Kukai called to them.

The others had already gotten out of their seats. It was just Ikuto and Amu that were left.

"You're so-! You're so-!" Amu yelled, moving past Ikuto and walking down the aisle.

"What? Don't tell me you didn't like burying your head in my chest, Amu-koi?" Ikuto said.

Amu twitched from anger, her face was bright red. "DON'T CALL ME AMU-KOI!" she shouted.

Ikuto only smirked. His plan had worked.

(A/N: Next update will be soon!)


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N: Sorry for not updating for so long Here's chapter four! Please review! I do not own Shugo Chara.)

Chapter 4

"Amu! The ladies are here!" Midori called up, excitedly. Amu walked down the stairs. She was wearing a short black and pink dress with a gray belt around the waist.

It was the night of the bridal shower. All of the guys had been kicked out of the house, which meant no Aruto or Ikuto until the shower was over.

"Midori-chan!" Amu heard lots of her mother's friends squeal out her mom's name.

Amu then saw Rima and Yaya, who were followed by their moms.

"Rima! Yaya!" Amu called with a smile.

"Hey, Amu-chi!" Yaya exclaimed.

"Amu!" Rima called back. Amu ran up and gave her friends big hugs.

That's when the blonde friend of Ikuto's walked inside, followed by a woman with long blonde hair, probably her mother.

"Hello, Hinamori-san," the woman said to Midori. "I'm Hoshina Souko and this is my daughter Utau. Utau's close friends with Ikuto-kun."

"Ah! Welcome!" Midori said with a wide smile. "Oh, Utau-san, Amu is over there with her friends." Midori pointed to where Amu was with Rima and Yaya by the staircase. "Amu, Honey, why don't you take the girls upstairs to your room? We'll call you down for dinner, okay?"

"Sure, Mom," Amu said. "Come on guys!" Amu looked over to the girl, Utau. Her gaze was cool, but she still followed them up to Amu's room.

"Amu-chi! No fair, no fair! Your room is so much more bigger than Yaya's!" Yaya whined, when they entered her room.

"Nice room, Amu," Rima commented.

Utau lingered at the doorway. Then she walked in.

"Hey, Utau-chi!" Yaya said with a smile.

"Yeah. Hi," Utau said, looking away. Amu sighed. She obviously didn't want to be there.

"Are any more teens coming?" Rima asked. Utau was about to sit down, when she saw a picture on Amu's wall and stopped to look at it. Amu tried to see which one it was. She then realized it was one of her and Kukai. Utau looked at that picture for a few more moments before she went over to them and sat with them. Amu questioned that small scene but decided to let it go.

"I don't know. I guess that depends if the women that my mom invited have daughters, and if they do, they bring them—"

"My cousins El and Il are coming," Utau commented. "I don't know when though."

Amu smiled. "Are they nice?"

Utau shrugged. "Il isn't really the nice sort, but you _can_ grow to like her. El is somewhat of a goody-two-shoes so I guess she's nice, just she can be annoying. Then again…" Utau looked at Amu, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Just about everyone annoys me in some way or another."

"You're friends with Ikuto-san, right?" Rima said, changing the subject.

"Yes."

"What's he like? Is he nice? Will he be a nice big brother to Amu-chi?" Yaya asked.

Utau shrugged. "Ikuto has many different sides to him. How should I know how good of a brother he's going to be?"

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in!" Amu said.

She heard murmurs from the other side of the door and then she heard someone yell. "Dammit, El, she said 'come in!'" The door swung open and two girls walked in. One girl had red eyes and short purple hair. She smiled at them, but her smile looked more menacing than anything else. The other girl had long golden-blonde hair and was frowning slightly at the other girl.

"Il, it's rude to just barge in!" the blonde girl said.

"I told you she said to come in!" the girl with the purple hair said. She looked at the group. "Hey, Utau!" she greeted with a smile. "Your mom said you were up here."

"Il. El," Utau nodded.

Il smiled at the others. "I'm Il, and this is my dimwitted sister El. Which of you is Amu?"

"Il! Don't just call her Amu! Use honorifics! It will make you seem more polite and friendlier and it will avoid future conflict."

Il rolled her eyes. "For someone who hates conflict you sure make a lot of conflict with me, _sis._"

Amu stood up and walked to them and put out her hand. "I'm Amu. It's okay if you just use my first name, I don't mind."

Amu saw Utau raise her eyebrow, but she didn't know why.

"See, El? Ha! She doesn't even care, goody-goody!"

El pouted. "Stop it, Il! You're so mean!"

"I'm Rima," Rima said, introducing herself.

"And I'm Yaya!" Yaya said with a wide smile.

"We're friends of Amu's," Rima said.

"That must be great! Can I be you're friend too?" El said with a wide grin.

"El," Utau said, warningly. El pouted again. "Il, do you know who else is coming?"

"Nah, maybe some little kids or something."

"Utau, is Temari coming?" El asked.

"Who's Temari?" Amu asked.

"She's Nagihiko's younger sister and she's friends with El," Utau said.

"That means she actually _put up_ with El," Il said. "Which is something you have to admire in her."

"Nagihiko was that friend of Ikuto's, right?" Rima said softly.

"Yeah," Utau said. "But not the boy with the glasses-"

"I know which boy he is," Rima said quicker than she should've. Everyone stared at her. "What?"

El smiled wide. "Is someone in _love?"_ she said.

"Oh God, El, not again," Il said, smacking her forehead.

Rima was blushing violently. "No I'm not! I just know who he is, that's all!"

"So how much do you know about him? When did you two meet? Have you talked to him at all? How much do you like him? Is it a like like or a _like _like or a love or a love love or a _love _love—?"

"I hardly know what any of that means!" Rima said defensively. "I don't even have a crush on him! I hardly know him!" Her face was bright red.

"You don't have to know someone for a long time to fall in love!" El stated. "You could've just met and fallen deeply in love!"

"Stop it!" Rima yelled. "I'm not in love with him! Stop talking!"

"I can arrange a date for you! I'll talk to Temari and she can ask Nagihiko what he thinks about you and I can get all the important information for you from him—"

"Shut up!" Rima demanded, her face a tomato.

"Like what kind of music he likes, and his favorite food, and his favorite color and his favorite laundry detergent—"

"El," Utau said. She was standing up and glared down at El. "That's enough."

El looked down shamefully and stayed quiet.

"Thank God," Il said with a sly grin. "She shut up!"

"Il, I've had enough of you too," Utau glared. Il quickly shut up as well.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. It opened and Midori's smiling face looked at the children. "It's dinner time!"

The rest of the bridal shower went by quickly. After dinner, they had cake and watched Midori open presents. After that, they sort of just mingled and the grownups had more champagne and wine. Then it was time for everyone to go home and for Aruto and Ikuto to come back.

Amu gave her two best friends big hugs. "Bye guys."

"Bye Amu-chi," Yaya said.

"Bye Amu," Rima whispered.

Amu also said good bye to El and Il and Utau, although Utau just nodded back.

Utau scowled at the floor of her car. Of course she'd have pictures of him in her room. And it wasn't just of him alone, it was of him with Amu. Kukai and Amu, even together in a picture… it made her upset. Nagihiko would be happy to know the blonde he had a small crush on him, although she wasn't completely sure if she should even tell Nagihiko, but knowing El, El would probably tell Temari who would probably tell Nagihiko.

"How do you like Amu, sweetie? Is she nice?" Souko asked.

"Yeah Mom. She's great," Utau said.

"Well that's good," her mom said with a gentle smile.

Utau sighed and leaned her head against the window. _He probably thinks she's great, _she thought. _He probably thinks she's perfect._

Midori smiled as she cleaned up the kitchen. Amu put the remaining dishes in the dishwasher.

"Aruto and Ikuto-kun should be back any minute now. Honey, would you mind finishing up the dishes? I need to go upstairs for a moment."

"Okay Mom," Amu agreed.

As Amu put away the last dish, she heard the door open.

"We're home!" the deep voice of Aruto called throughout the house.

"Welcome back!" she heard her mother call back.

Amu yawned and was about to turn to close the dishwasher when two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Amu would've jumped, but the arms kept her down. She was pulled so that her back met a chest. She didn't even have to turn to know who it was.

"Ikuto!" she hissed. "You scared me!"

Ikuto relaxed his head on her shoulder. "So how was the shower?"

Amu wormed her way out of Ikuto's embrace and looked at him. He was wearing a casual gray t-shirt and ripped jeans. "It was fine."

"Did you miss me?"

"No!"

Ikuto frowned. "But I missed you."

Amu's cheeks turned red. "W-wha—" Ikuto then started laughing. "JERK!"

"Sorry, but it's so fun to tease you, Amu," Ikuto said with a smile.

"Bite me."

"That can be arranged…," Ikuto said softly, but loud enough for her to hear.

Amu's eyes widened and stared at him, disgusted and slightly fearful. "What?"

He laughed again. "Joking, I was joking."

Amu rolled her eyes, her face still bright red. "W-whatever." Amu turned and walked towards the door of the kitchen when she felt him grab her hand and pull her towards him. He spun her around so that she was facing him and he dipped her down, placing his hand on her back to keep her up. He looked deep into her eyes. She looked up at him, her eyes wide, her face growing redder and redder.

He smiled at her. "I'm glad… to be back…" He then stood her back up and slowly left the kitchen. Before he turned the corner, he looked back at her and smiled. "Good night, Amu."

He then left. Amu slid down the wall so that she was sitting, propped up against the wall. "Good night… Ikuto," she whispered.

(A/N: Sorry, this was one of my short chapters Next chapter will be longer It won't take so long to update the next chapter )


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Amu. Amu. Amu, wake up." Amu's eyes opened to see a face smiling down at her. "Morning, Beautiful."

Amu screamed and turned on her light. Then she realized who it was. "I-I-Ikuto! W-what are you doing here?" Ikuto smiled and sat down on her bed. Amu checked her clock. It was almost four in the morning. "Idiot! Go away and let me sleep!" Amu pulled the covers over her head.

"Now, now, don't be like that," she heard Ikuto say. The covers were pulled from over her head.

Amu glared at him. "What do you want?"

"Let's go somewhere," Ikuto said with a smile.

Amu blinked. "Are you insane?"

"Possibly."

Amu shook her head. "If you didn't already realize, it's before dawn. Go away." Amu turned on her side and shut her eyes, hoping that he would leave. He didn't.

"Come on, Amu! Let's have some sibling time."

Amu rolled her eyes. "I do _not_ believe your idea of sibling time is even legal. I'm trying to sleep."

"Amu. Just come with me."

Amu sighed and sat up. She rubbed her eyes. "Do you usually do this?"

"What?"

"Just leave the house this early in the morning?"

Ikuto shrugged. "Sometimes. When I want to clear my head."

Amu sighed again. "Fine."

"Hmm?"

"I'll go with you. But first, leave."

"Why?"

Amu rolled her eyes. "Moron, I need to change. I doubt the public wants to see me in my pajamas."

Ikuto looked at her pajama shirt, which was just a pink undershirt. He smirked. "You'd be surprised what the public wants to see."

Amu smacked his arm, her face red. "Get out pervert! Don't make me change my mind!"

Ikuto chuckled and stood up and left the room. Amu was still blushing. She then got out of bed and went to her closet. She grabbed a plain light red t-shirt and a jean mini skirt.

Ikuto was standing outside of her bedroom door. He was wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans. "Ready?"

"No, but does it matter?"

"Nope," Ikuto said with a grin. He grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs and to his car. She got into the passenger's seat and he got in the driver's seat. He started the engine and pulled out of the driveway.

"Where exactly are we going?"

Ikuto smiled. "I don't know yet. We can go anywhere. Where do you want to go?"

"You don't know?" Amu laughed. "Wow. You sure know how to show a girl a good time."

"I'd like to think so. So, Princess, where do you want to go?"

Amu decided to ignore the nickname, although it tempted her cheeks to turn red. "I don't know…"

"Hey, are you hungry? We should get breakfast somewhere."

"What place would be open at four in the morning?" Amu asked.

"We could go to a gas station and get food there. Or go to a fast food place. Have some imagination, Amu."

"Shut up," Amu snapped. She started regretting instantly leaving her comfortable, warm bed. Amu rested her head on the window. "I don't care. Just get it over with."

"You're very grumpy in the morning," Ikuto noted.

Amu glared at him. "I told you to shut it."

Ikuto drove up to a gas station. "Now be a good little girl and don't break anything while I get us some food."

Amu glared at him as he left the car and waked inside the gas station. She groaned. She hated waking up early and she was still somewhat drowsy. She decided to turn on the radio. Viva La Vida came on by Coldplay. She smiled a little. Coldplay was one of her favorite bands.

She closed her eyes while listening to the song, and might've fallen asleep, if she didn't hear the door open and close.

"Don't fall asleep, Sweetheart," she heard Ikuto say.

Amu opened her eyes and groaned. "I hate you."

"I know," Ikuto said with a smile. "Hungry?" He gave her an egg and cheese sandwich and a bottle of iced coffee.

Amu took the food and drink. "Thanks…"

Ikuto nodded. "Amu? Open the compartment door in front of you. You'll find a few CDs. Hand me them, okay?"

"Fine…" Amu opened the compartment and handed Ikuto three CDs that were in there. She was too tired to look at the covers and read the names. She watched as Ikuto took a CD and put it in. Amu heard jazz music start up. "You like jazz?"

"Why? You don't like it?"

"No, no, I like it. I just didn't picture… you liking it."

Ikuto raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Amu shrunk down in her seat. "I don't know," she murmured. "Just doesn't fit your persona."

Ikuto laughed which made Amu's face redden and her eyes narrow. "Just listen to the song, Amu. Nat King Cole is one of my favorites."

_L is for the way you look at me._

_O is for the only one I see._

_V is very, very extraordinary._

_E is even more than anyone that you adore can_

_Love is all that I can give to you. _

_Love is more than just a game for two. _

_Two in love can make it_

_Take my heart and please don't break it,_

_Love was made for me and you._

"Do you like this song, Amu?"

"Yeah, it's really pretty. I know this song, my mom used to play all the time at home," Amu said with a small smile. Amu watched as Ikuto bobbed his head to the beat. Amu held back a laugh. And then he started singing.

"L is for the way you look at me," Ikuto winked at her. "O is for the only one I see." Ikuto put up his index finger. Amu couldn't help by laugh at him. He was acting so out of character. "V is very, very extraordinary! E is even more than anyone that you adore can _love_ is all that I can give to you!"

Amu smiled and joined in. They all sang the song together, her, Ikuto, and Nat King Cole. "Love is more than just a game for two! _Two_ in love can make it, take my heart and please don't break it! Love was made for me and you! Love was made for me and you! Love was made me and you!" The song ended and Ikuto and Amu laughed.

Amu smiled. Usually she wouldn't do this around other people, besides her friends. Could it be she was actually getting comfortable around Ikuto?

"So did you decide where we were going to go?" asked Amu.

"Yeah. It's this place in the park near here." Ikuto looked at the radio clock. "And I think we'll make it in time." Ikuto drove a little while longer until they reached a park. Ikuto got out quickly and looked up at the sky. A few lights started coming into the sky, but the sun hadn't risen yet. Amu got out of the car and Ikuto ran over to her and grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

Ikuto started to run, dragging Amu behind him. "Ikuto, why are you running?"

"Trust me; you don't want to miss it."

"Ikuto, _slow down!"_ Amu exclaimed. She felt like she was going to fall at any moment.

Ikuto didn't listen to her, until they reached an area of the park that was completely obscured by trees. "Through here." He pulled Amu through the trees, against Amu's complaints, until they reached a clearing where there was a hill. It was actually quite large, but not huge. Ikuto pulled her towards the hill.

"Ikuto. You expect me to climb that thing?" She was pretty tired. She had woken up really early and Ikuto just made her run through a park at her top speed. She didn't feel like climbing any hill. Ikuto rolled his eyes. That's when he did the unexpected. He let go of her hand and scooped her up, bridal style. He was bridal carrying her. "I-I-Iku-!"

"I know, I know, Princess. But I don't want you to miss this." He started running up the hill with her, making her shut her eyes tight and hold on as tight as she could. Then she felt him stop. He then placed her down on the grass. She opened her eyes to see him sit down next to her.

"Okay, thanks for the heart attack!" she snapped.

"You're welcome," he said with a smile. "Now look up."

Amu slowly looked up at the sky. Her mouth slightly opened. The sun was just rising and the sky was a painted with all sorts of different shades of pinks and orange and hints of red and purple. It was simply breath taking. "It's so beautiful!" Amu smiled as she looked up at the sky as the sun rose. She admitted to herself, it was sort of cliché, but it didn't make it any less beautiful. And she never expected someone like Ikuto to take her here to see the sunrise. She turned towards him and smiled. "Thank you!"

He was smiling back at her. "You know… you're really pretty when you smile like that."

Amu blushed and looked away. She then felt his hand gently hold her chin and move it towards him. He was very close to her now. He seemed to be thinking about something. Amu looked at him. She didn't know what was going to happen. She felt somewhat at peace at the moment. Like everything was turning out like it should.

Ikuto looked deep into her eyes. He wasn't smiling or smirking then. He slowly leaned in towards her. Amu looked into his eyes. They were such a magnificent shade of blue… Such pretty eyes… She felt herself lean in towards him, meeting him half way. That's when he placed his lips on top of hers. It was gentle and soft, nothing passionate but Amu felt her spirits fly. Amu closed her lips and all that she paid attention to was his lips against hers.

That's when she felt his hand move from her chin and to her hair where he ran his fingers through it. Amu placed her hand on his shoulder. Ikuto started to make the kiss more passionate and  
Amu didn't deny it. His hand moved down her back and she placed her hand on his chest.

Suddenly everything started coming back to her. Where they were and more importantly, what they were doing. Amu's eyes widened and she pushed him away from her, realizing what she had just done.

"Idiot!" she exclaimed.

Ikuto looked simply baffled. "What? What's wrong?"

Amu felt unwanted tears in her eyes, but she had no idea why. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Kissing me?"

Ikuto moved closer to her. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes!" Amu cried out. She moved away from him. "Yes there is!"

"Sorry, I thought you liked it," Ikuto said coolly.

"Are you crazy?" Amu stood up. "Our parents are about to marry!"

"Yes, I understand that. What is your point?"

"We are about to become step-siblings and you're kissing me!" Ikuto didn't respond. "I'm sorry but I don't want to have a relationship with my _stepbrother_!"

Ikuto smirked. "Then why did you kiss back?"

Amu looked at him, her eyes wide and her whole body shaking. She bit her lip and looked away. "Just… take me back to the house."

Ikuto stood up and walked to her. "Amu…" He was about to caress her face with his hand but Amu hit his hand away.

"Don't touch me, Ikuto."

Ikuto took back his hand and looked away. He then turned around. "Let's go," he said softly. He didn't want her to see it. He didn't want her to see the pained expression on his face.

(A/N: I _would_ end the chapter here, but since I'm sooo nice, I'll continue )

"I ruined everything," he said to himself. Ikuto was lying on a tree branch by an entrance to the park. It was later that same day, early afternoon.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and answered it, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

_"Ikuto, it's me, Nagihiko." _

"What do you want? I'm not in the mood, Nagihiko."

_"And when are you in the mood?" _Nagi laughed on the other line.

"Seriously, what do you want?"

_"Hold on, are you okay? What happened?"_

"I don't feel like talking about it right now. Why'd you call me?"

_"Well, remember that blonde girl? Rima?"_

"Yeah, she's…" Ikuto scowled. "She's _Amu's_ friend, right?"

_"Yeah! Well, Utau told me that she probably has a _crush _on me."_

"So?"

_"So? Come on, where's the Ikuto I know? Seriously, what happened to you? Did you get in a fight?"_

"You could say that…"

_"Ikuto, you're my friend and you know you can tell me anything, right?"_

"Nagi, I just don't feel like it today, okay?"

_"Ikuto, where are you?" _

"The park… why?"

_"I'm coming. Don't leave."_

"Dammit, Nagi, I told you I don't feel like it today!"

_"Ikuto, you hardly ever act like this, so something big must have happened."_

"Don't bother coming, I'm leaving now."

_"Fine, I won't come. Can you just tell me what's wrong? It's good to let it out to someone."_

Ikuto sighed. He just wouldn't let it go. Ikuto did the easiest thing. He ended the call and turned off his cell phone. Ikuto got off the branch and got into his car. It was time he took a long drive around the city.

Amu heard a knock on her bedroom door. She had been 'reading' and she put down her book. She walked over to the door and opened it. It was Aruto.

"Hello, Amu-chan," he said with a smile.

"Um, hello," she said with a small smile. He had taken her by surprise. He wasn't the first person that she had expected to see there. Then she frowned as she realized… she had expected to see Ikuto there… smiling or smirking, like usual. But then again, Ikuto probably wouldn't have knocked.

"Well, you're mother thought that it would be a good idea for us to have a family picnic at the beach and I wanted to know what you thought of that before we made any more plans."

"Oh, uh, that sounds actually really fun." Then she paused. "When you say family, do you mean…?"

"Me, you, Midori, and Ikuto."

"Oh, yes, of course," Amu said. She frowned but then shook it off. She shouldn't let the morning's events with Ikuto get to her. He had probably forgotten about it anyway so it wasn't a big deal. "Sure, a picnic sounds fun."

Aruto smiled. "That's good, I'll tell Midori." Then he hesitated. "Amu-chan… do you know where Ikuto is?"

Amu froze. "No. He's… not here?"

"No. Actually I tried calling him, but it goes right to voicemail."

Amu shrugged. "Don't worry, Aruto-san, he's probably just with his friends."

"Oh, okay. Well, we are planning the picnic for dinner so that'll give him some time to come back anyways. Do you have his number?"

Amu tried holding back a blush. "No…"

"Well, I'll give it to you, all right?"

"Um, okay…" Aruto took out his phone and Amu took out hers. He read the number out loud and Amu punched it into her contacts list. "Thank you, Aruto-san."

Aruto nodded and turned around and walked down the staircase.

Amu sat on her bed, not even bothering to pick up her book again. She stared at her phone. _Why didn't he answer his phone? Where is he? Why'd he leave? How long has he been gone? _she thought as she stared at her contact list.

Without thinking she pressed the 'call' button and brought her phone up to her ear. It rang a few times before she heard the voice mail. _"I'm not answering your call right now," _she heard the Ikuto's voice say on the voice mail. _"Leave a message. If I like you I'll call you back. Maybe." _ She couldn't help but smile at the voice mail. She could visually see him smirking as he said that message on his voicemail. Oh, Ikuto. Then she heard the familiar 'beep.'

"Um, hey Ikuto's it's me, Amu. Your dad gave me your number, but it's not what you think, I didn't ask for it! Anyway, uh, Mom was thinking of having a picnic on the beach for dinner. And it's like a 'family' picnic so I guess you should come back soon. Um, your dad's worried about you so call him. Bye…" Amu ended the call and flopped back on her bed. "That… was really embarrassing…"

It was almost five when she heard her phone ring. She checked caller ID. It was Ikuto.

"Ikuto? Where are you? We're about to leave for the beach!"

_"My phone was off, Nagi was annoying me. I liked your message, it was nice. Oh, and I know you begged my dad for my number, don't deny it," _Ikuto said on the other line. _"Anyway, I'm already pulling up here. It's lucky I decided to come home at this time. I just got your message a couple of minutes ago."_

"You're already here? Then why'd you call me?"

_"Didn't you here my voicemail when you left me a message? I said, if I _like _you, I'll call you back. Now let's go to the beach."_

(A/N: Okay, that's the end of chapter 5. Next chapter will most likely be updated soon!)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The drive to the beach didn't take long. It was evening so they weren't going to swim. Just a simple picnic on the sand. They unpacked the car. Aruto was carrying two beach chairs, Ikuto the other two. Midori carried the basket of food, leaving Amu to carry the blanket.

"I wonder if we'll be able to see the stars tonight," Midori questioned aloud as they made their way to the sand.

"I imagine so," Aruto answered with a smile at his fiancé.

When they got there, Ikuto helped Amu spread out the blanket, against Amu's complaints, and soon they were all sitting on the blanket together. Amu tried to sit as far away from Ikuto as possible, but it was hard on a blanket that held four sitting people. Ikuto, on the other hand managed to find a way to sit next to her.

They sat in somewhat of a semi-circle, Aruto on one side of the blanket, next to him Midori, next to her Amu, and next to Amu sat Ikuto, smiling at her innocently as she glared at him.

Midori started unpacking the food. Amu looked towards the ocean. It sure was pretty…

Amu took her food and they all soon began to eat.

"So, Ikuto, where were you today?" Aruto asked. They all looked at him. _Yes, _thought Amu. _Where were you today? Thank you, Aruto-san. _Then Amu mentally slapped herself. She shouldn't even care where he went that day.

Ikuto shrugged. "I was just driving around."

"Well, you made your father very worried," Midori said. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Nagi was bothering me so I turned off my phone," Ikuto answered. "I forgot to turn it back on."

Aruto smiled at him. "Okay, Son. Just remember to turn it back on, okay? You had us all worried."

Aruto and Midori went back to eating and Ikuto turned towards Amu.

"_You_ were worried about me, too, Amu?" Ikuto asked, his eyebrow raised.

Amu's cheeks turned red and her eyes narrowed. "Of course not, idiot!" she hissed.

Midori turned towards her. "Amu, is something wrong?"

"No, Mom, sorry," Amu said quickly. Midori shrugged and went back to talking with Aruto.

Ikuto looked at Amu and smiled. "Hey, you finished?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Hey, Midori-san?" Ikuto said, still staring at Ikuto with a big smile on his face.

Midori looked at him. "Oh, yes Ikuto-kun?"

"Can I take a walk on the beach with Amu?"

Amu's eyes widened. Midori smiled. "Of course! That sounds like a wonderful idea!"

"Just be back around seven, okay? That's when we should start heading back," Aruto added.

"Sure, Dad," Ikuto said with a smile. Before Amu could protest, she was being pulled off the blanket and Ikuto dragged her across the beach, away from parents.

Soon, the blanket, and their parents, were out of sight.

Ikuto had her hand in his and was leading her somewhere.

"Ikuto, where are you taking me?" Amu asked, annoyed.

"You sure don't like surprises, do you?" Ikuto responded. He smiled back at her. Then he turned back around and started running, dragging her behind him, again, until they reached his destination. It was that sheltered seat that lifeguards sit on when they're on duty. It looked somewhat like a miniature shed that was lifted off the ground by wooden stilts. Ikuto turned towards her. "Don't freak out like you usually do, okay?"

"What do you—" That's when Ikuto lifted her up and placed her inside the mini shack. Then Ikuto climbed into it himself. It was wide enough for each of them to have enough room to move around. "And why would I freak out?" Amu demanded.

"Well, I've noticed that when I pick you up, you freak out."

Amu blushed and looked away. "Shut up…"

Ikuto laughed, making her redder. "This is nice, isn't it?" Amu looked at him. "I mean, look. The weathers nice, the ocean's beautiful, and I'm here with you." Amu looked down. "You're not still mad at me, are you?" Amu bit her lip. So he hadn't forgotten. He was talking about the mornings events.

"No…"

"That's good. I don't like it when you're mad at me." Amu looked up at him. He was staring out at the ocean. Then he half smiled. "Did you really hate it? The kiss?"

Amu's face turned a dark shade of red. How should she respond to that? "I didn't… hate it…," she answered in a small voice.

Ikuto turned towards her. "But you didn't like it?"

"No… I… might've liked it… a little," she said softer, shrinking down. God, this was embarrassing.

He chuckled. "Oh, really?"

"Jerk!" Amu exclaimed. "Don't ruin it like that!"

He raised his eyebrow. "Excuse me?" Amu sighed and looked out at the ocean. Ikuto moved closer to her. "_I _liked it…"

Amu looked at him. He looked so sincere. He was close to her now. He raised his hand and brought it up to her face and started caressing it, but she pulled her head away. "Don't say things like that. It's not like anything can happen between us. We're going to be siblings…"

"No, we're going to be step-siblings."

"It doesn't matter, Ikuto. I don't want to have any type of love relationship with my stepbrother," Amu said looking at him. She needed to end it. She needed to end whatever _thing_ was going on between them.

Ikuto smirked at her. "But we're _not_ step-siblings yet, now are we?"

Amu looked at him. "What?"

"We can do anything we want until the wedding, Amu. Right now, it's just me and you. We have no family relation what so ever." Amu stared at him. He was right… They could be together and it wouldn't matter until the wedding. "Why not? Before the wedding, we can just end whatever there is between us."

Amu didn't know what to think, what to do. He was making sense. Technically, they weren't step-siblings yet. It didn't matter. And that kiss… it made her feel happy… but… "No."

"Why not?"

"No, Ikuto. You don't understand. I wouldn't be able to just _end _it like that. It would just be better if nothing happened between us," Amu said, turning her head around.

"Then we won't make it official," Ikuto said. He turned her head towards him and leaned down. "But I still want to kiss you."

Amu looked down. "I don't… want to be hurt… and if I do this with you and I fall in love—"

"We won't make it anything more," started Ikuto, "than a kiss now and then." Ikuto leaned down even closer to her, moving her head towards him once again. Their lips were only inches apart. "Let me kiss you, Amu," he added in a low voice.

Amu looked into his eyes. "Okay," she managed, before Ikuto threw himself onto her, his lips crashing against her. He pushed her onto the floor of the mini lifeguard shack and he put himself over her, kissing her hard and passionately. He had been holding himself back for what seemed like ages, and that one 'okay' was all he needed. One of his hands was pressed onto the wooden floor to keep him up; the other was behind her head, pushing it upward to him.

He had wanted her to agree to being together until the wedding, but this was the next best thing. Anyway, he would probably come up with some way to trick her to going out with him.

This kiss was almost nothing like the first, although she was kissing back (thankfully) and it was mostly nothing but passionate. But this kiss was not gentle. At. All.

"Ikuto…" he heard her say in between kisses.

"Hmm?" he responded, as he kissed her.

"We should head… back…"

"I don't want to."

"Ikuto…"

He then pulled away from her and looked at her. She really was beautiful. But she was right, too. It was almost seven. They should start heading back.

Ikuto walked into her bedroom that night. Her lights were turned off and she was fast asleep. He walked over to her bed and looked at her. She looked so at peace when she was sleeping, not to mention gorgeous. She breathed slowly and deeply and her hair was braided to keep from tangling. Ikuto brushed her bangs out of her eyes gently and looked at her sadly.

He didn't want to lose her. Sure, he would continue teasing her even after their parents got married, but he knew they'd never be able to be together. He would be fine with dating his step-sister, but she didn't like that. Ikuto sighed. If their parents weren't going to get married, then he'd be able to date her easily and they'd probably be a couple. But then again, if their parents weren't going to get married, the chances that he'd ever meet Amu would be very, very slim.

Why? Why'd he have to fall for the daughter of his dad's fiancé? Why? He bent down and kissed her forehead. "We'll figure something out," he whispered. "I promise." Thoughts swarmed his head about what might happen after the wedding. _What if she gets a boyfriend? What if she falls in love with someone other than me? What if she falls for Kukai? How will I be able to stop that? If I'm only her brother… She'll never let me kiss her after the wedding. Why her? Why'd I have to fall for her? I'm never going to be able to be with her._

Ikuto slowly walked out of the room and closed the door gently behind him. He walked down the stairs and out the door to his car. He drove to a nearby bowling arena where he was meeting his friends.

He parked his car and went inside. There weren't that many people there, but the arena stayed open until one in the morning. It was eleven. After renting his shoes, he walked over to the lanes where he saw Utau, Nagi, and Kairi getting everything ready.

"Hey, Ikuto!" Nagi said with a smile.

Ikuto smiled at his friends. "Hey, guys."

"Where's Amu?" Utau asked, not looking at him.

"At home," Ikuto answered. "Why do you care?"

Utau shrugged. "No reason."

"Are you ready for the rehearsal wedding?" asked Kairi.

"I guess so. I don't do much though. I'm just a groomsman," Ikuto responded.

"What's Amu?" asked Nagi.

"She's a bridesmaid."

"Who will be the ring bearer and the flower girls?" Kairi questioned.

Ikuto thought for a moment. "I think Amu's younger cousins Ran and Su are the flower girls and my younger cousin Hikaru is the ring bearer. Now let's stop with the wedding crap and play." His friends looked at him, confused. He shrugged. He must've sounded angrier about the wedding than he should have. But he _was_ angry. And he didn't feel like hiding it.

They were half way into the game. Nagi was winning with Ikuto as a close second and then Kairi and Utau fighting for third.

"Oh, Utau-chan, how is Kukai-san by the way?" asked Kairi, adjusting his glasses. Utau dropped her bowling ball and turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I was simply asking you how your crush was doing," Kairi responded innocently. Ikuto couldn't help but chuckle. They all knew she was thinking of him. She would always slaughter them all at bowling and during that game, it seemed like she might even be placed last, if third wasn't bad enough for her. Her mind was definitely somewhere else.

"Shut up, Kairi! He's _not_ my crush and how should I know how he's doing?" Utau fumed, her face bright red.

"Utau," Ikuto piped up.

"What?"

"I have his number." Utau stopped and stared at him. Ikuto smirked. "I can give it to you, if you want. I stole it from Amu's phone." Ikuto remembered the past week. He had been thinking about reading past text messages between her and Kukai, but found that her all of her messages in her inbox and sent messages had been deleted. She probably needed more memory. So he had settled on just stealing his number from it.

Utau looked at Ikuto skeptically. Kairi and Nagi were snickering. She knew he wasn't lying about the number. She also knew that it would be easy enough for him to give it to her. But that would make her friends have one over her and she didn't want that. They'd tease her even more if she admitted her crush on Kukai. Utau rolled her eyes at Ikuto.

"I don't want his number, idiot. Now let me bowl in peace," Utau said to him. She turned back towards the lanes. _Okay, Utau, _she thought to herself. _Focus. Focus. _

She released her bowling ball and watched as it made contact with the pins. It hit all but one. She scowled. She'd done better, but that didn't matter now. She had to focus on this pin. _Don't think about him, Utau. Focus on the pin. The pin, _she thought. _Don't think about… _she smiled a little. _ Don't think about how he has the most amazing smile… and how his eyes are the prettiest shade of green… and when he laughs, I think I might melt… and how—Utau! _ Utau shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the pin. _Get a hold of yourself. The pin! The pin! _

She positioned herself and then released the ball. It hit the last pin. She smiled. On the screen the words _Spare _flashed on and off.

"Come on, Utau, you can do better than that," Ikuto commented.

Utau glared at him. "Shut up, Ikuto. You're lucky that I'm letting you guys off easy."

"Sure you are," Ikuto said with a smirk. He went over to the lanes with his bowling ball. Utau walked over to the seats and took a seat next to her bag. She opened it and got out her phone. She opened it to check the time (she didn't have a watch) when she saw it was open on her contacts list. Utau looked at it confused. Her contacts list?

Then she realized her list was in the Ks… Her eyes widened as she saw Kukai's name flash back at her. She opened the contact to see his number. How did…? She looked back at Ikuto who had just started his turn. She smiled as she looked at the number. Her phone had a password on it and there was only one other person who knew her password.

"Thank you, Ikuto," she said quietly to herself. She smiled at the number again, before she closed her phone.

(A/N: So a lot of Amuto, ending with a little Kutau Hope you guys liked chapter 6. Next chapter will be updated soon )


	7. Chapter 7

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 7

They were doing the rehearsal wedding. Nobody was in fancy clothing, but all of the bridesmaids, groomsman, best man, flower girls, and even the priest were there. Mr. Young, a tall, skinny man was organizing everything from where one stood, to what moment they should begin walking. At that moment, he was instructing Midori where and when to stand before walking down the aisle.

Amu was standing with the other bridesmaids, a few feet away. Mr. Young was going to work on the pairings a little while later. Amu smiled. It was usually by height, so she had nothing to worry about with being paired up with Ikuto. He was very tall, and even though she didn't want to admit it, she wasn't the tallest girl there. She looked at the other bridesmaids.

There were five bridesmaids in total, including Amu. Two of them were her aunts, Aika and Eri, her mom's sisters, and the other two were her mother's best friends, Macy and Jin. Amu wasn't the shortest bridesmaid. That was Macy. Jin was definitely the tallest, and then came her aunt Aika. Eri and Amu were almost the exact same height, but Eri was about a centimeter or two taller.

Amu looked at the groomsmen. She chocked back a laugh. They just looked really, really bored.

She had no idea who most of them were, besides Ikuto, of course. She looked at a tall man who looked similar to Aruto with dark hair and the same shade of eyes, although he looked much grimmer and wore glasses. She remembered being introduced to this man; he was Aruto's older brother, but she had forgotten his name.

She had no idea who the other three groomsmen were.

Amu's gaze moved towards her two younger cousins, Ran and Su, who were going to be the flower girls. Ran was six and Su was five. They were both sitting on the ground and coloring as they waited for Mr. Young.

A little boy watched them. He looked about six or seven. He was going to be the ring bearer. Amu smiled at him. He was so cute, for a little kid, of course. The little boy had blond hair and big blue eyes.

She watched as Su invited him to color with them, but the boy slowly shook his head.

Suddenly an arm wrapped around her. She was about to yell at Ikuto, when she turned her head and saw that it was Ikuto. It was Macy.

"Hey, Honey! How you doing these days?" she said with a big smile. Her Japanese was slightly accented, since she was America. Midori had told Amu that even in America Macy had an accent since she was from Texas.

"I'm fine," Amu said with a smile. "And you, Macy-san?"

"Just fine! Oh, won't you drop the san? Macy's my name and I'd like to be called that!" Macy said with a wink.

"Um, okay…" Amu smiled nervously. She liked Macy a lot, but sometimes she just didn't know how to respond.

"How's Aruto's son? He nice?"

Amu wanted to laugh out loud. But she swallowed that laugh. Hmm… what to say about Ikuto? _Well, Macy, he's perverted, rude, egoistic, perverted, and inconsiderate, and he makes me feel totally uncomfortable, and he's perverted, and oh, did I mention perverted? _Amu thought to herself. Then she frowned. _But he's also sweet and wonderful… and he makes me feel special… _"He's okay."

She raised an eyebrow. "He doesn't annoy you? I swear, Honey, that must be some kind of brother for him not to annoy you! I have three older brothers and they _still_ annoy me! And Sweetheart, I'm almost thirty!"

Amu laughed. "No, he _does_ annoy me, Macy. Trust me."

"Well if he gives you any trouble, you can always come to me," Macy said, winking at her.

"Thanks, Macy."

"Okay, bridesmaids and groomsmen!" Mr. Young announced. He walked over to them and smiled. The bridesmaids were standing in a line on one side of the brick pathway, which would be covered with a long shiny white carpet for the wedding, and the groomsmen on the other. "Okay…" He turned to the bridesmaids first. "Beautiful just beautiful! You're all beautiful!" He turned to the groomsmen. "Yes, okay, I see…" He smiled at both lines. "Okay! Now, you'll be walking out before the bride, understood? And after the flower girls. You'll wait until the flower girls are halfway down the carpet and then start heading out. Okay, you understand you'll be paired up, right? Now…" He examined them all. "We want to do this by height…" Amu looked at Ikuto and saw him smiling at her.

_What? _she mouthed.

He shrugged and then mouthed something back.

_I don't know what you're saying, _Amu mouthed. He winked at her and Amu's eyes narrowed. She really didn't feel like her blushing at that moment but her cheeks didn't agree.

"Where are the couple's children?" Mr. Young asked.

"I'm here," Amu spoke up.

"Here," Ikuto responded.

"I think that you two will be paired up, and you'll stand in front!" Mr. Young said with a smile. Amu's eyes widened and she saw Ikuto smirk at her.

"Uh, are you sure? He's just, you know, a lot taller than me—"

"Of course I'm sure! Now, both of you go in front of the line and link arms!" Mr. Young said with a big grin on his face. Amu had the sudden urge to slap him as she walked in front of the line. Ikuto smirked at her and they moved close together and linked arms.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Ikuto whispered to her, so only she could hear.

"No, it's not," Amu snapped back, but also in a low voice so it was inaudible to the others.

"I want to kiss you again."

"Now just shut up!" Amu hissed. Amu looked in front of her to her little cousins and the blond boy. "Hey, Ikuto?"

"Yes, my love?"

Amu rolled her eyes. She had decided it wasn't worth it anymore to scold him for the nicknames; he'd just continue with it anyway. "Who's the ring bearer?"

"Hikaru. He's my cousin."

Amu smiled. "He's so cute!"

Ikuto looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Cuter than me?"

Amu smirked at him. "No contest."

"That hurts, Amu… Now I _really _want to kiss you." Amu rolled her eyes. "After this is over, we should go swimming."

"Swimming?"

"In our pool."

"Pool?" Amu looked at him, baffled.

Ikuto smirked. "Have you been living under a rock? The pool. In our _pool _house? On the other side of the house?"

Amu looked at him blankly. How was it that she'd never seen their pool house? How was it that she'd never realized they had a pool? Amu rolled her eyes at him. "And why would I want to go swimming with you?"

"Because you love me," Ikuto answered.

Amu's cheeks slightly turned a light shade of pink. "Try again."

Ikuto sighed and smiled at her. "Because it lots of fun?" Amu thought for a moment. Then nodded. "And because you love me." Amu pinched his arm. He laughed softly at the failed attempt for pain.

The rehearsal was soon over and Ikuto led Amu over to Aruto, who was talking with the best man, who was unfamiliar to Amu, although she guessed he was a close a friend.

"Hello, Ikuto-kun. It's nice to see you again," the man said. He had short light brown hair and golden eyes.

"Hello Yui-san, it's nice to see you too."

"And this is Hinamori-san's daughter?" he asked.

"Yes, this is Amu-chan," Aruto said with a smile. "Amu-chan, this is my best friend Hotori Yui."

"It's nice meeting you, Hotori-san," Amu said with a smile. Yui gave her a small smile in return and shook her hand.

"I apologize that Tadase and Mizue couldn't make it to the rehearsal. Mizue took Tadase to an overnight retreat with some of her friends and their sons."

Aruto laughed softly. "No worries, Yui-kun. This is only the rehearsal. No guests were obliged to come. "

"Dad?" Ikuto said. "Where's the key to the pool house?"

"Are you going to take Amu-chan swimming?" Aruto asked. Ikuto nodded and Aruto smiled. "All right, then. The keys are on the hook in the main hallway."

"Thanks Dad. Let's go Amu—"

"Wait, did you ask Midori?" Ikuto looked at him and Aruto smiled. "Just to be sure that's it's all right if Amu-chan swims now."

"Fine," Ikuto said reluctantly.

He turned around and led Amu towards Midori, who was talking with her sisters. Aika was holding Su in her arms and Eri was holding onto Ran's hand.

"Excuse me, Midori-san?" Ikuto said, interrupting the conversation between the three sisters. Amu noticed that Eri looked slightly annoyed at Ikuto, while Midori didn't seem to care.

Midori gave them a big smile. "Yes, Ikuto-kun?"

"Would it be all right if I took Amu swimming in our pool in the pool house?" asked Ikuto with a small smile.

Midori smiled brightly at him. "Why, yes! Of course!" Midori turned towards Amu and smiled warmly at her. "Go right ahead! Oh, but be careful, all right?"

"Thank you," Ikuto responded.

Ikuto took Amu's hand again, leading her towards the door when they heard Eri loudly 'whisper' to Midori. "Are you sure your daughter spending all that _time _with that boy?" Ikuto stopped walking. Amu turned her head towards her aunt. "I mean, look at him. He's what? Nineteen? Twenty? I've seen him _look_ at her, Midori. He looks as if he's going to take advantage of her. You should be more careful with Amu-chan."

Midori frowned at her sister and caught her daughter's eye. She narrowed her eyes. "Eri. Ikuto-kun is an amazing young man. He is going to be a wonderful older brother to Amu. I'm ashamed of you for thinking so wrongly of him."

"Come now, Midori," Eri continued. "I see him holding her hand, whispering to her, making her blush. I don't think that it's right having him with her all the time. He's so-"

"Stop talking about him like you actually know him. I don't ever want you to talk about him that way again, understand? Ikuto-kun is about to become my son and I really don't give a damn what you think." Midori turned around and walked towards the doors to the house, passing by Amu and Ikuto. She turned her head towards them and smiled warmly at them. (A/N: I think I made Midori a little out of character here, but she has snapped )

Amu didn't even know what to say.

"I like your aunt," Ikuto said as they started walking again, still hand in hand.

Amu frowned. She didn't like what Eri said about Ikuto. Before they entered the house, Amu turned her head back towards her aunts. Aika was tickling Su in her embrace, while Eri was watching them leave, scowling at them.

They walked towards the staircase and then up the stairs, all the while holding hands.

Ikuto walked Amu to her room. "You have a swimsuit, right?"

Amu raised her eyebrow at him. "Uh, yeah. Of course I do." Ikuto laughed and followed her into her room. "You're going to have to leave."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"I need to change."

"Okay."

"Ikuto."

"What?"

"Stop being perverted and leave."

"Can I just close my eyes?"

"Like I can trust you to just 'close your eyes.'"

Ikuto sighed. "Fine, I'll leave. Stay here, okay? I'll go change and come back to your room. You don't have to bring a towel, by the way. We have towels in the pool house."

"Okay, thanks," Amu said. Ikuto smiled at her and leaned in towards her.

"I deserve a kiss, right?"

"And why do you deserve a kiss?"

Ikuto wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his forehead against hers. "Because I've been a good boy."

Amu laughed. "And how have you been a good boy?"

"Well, I didn't kiss you at the rehearsal like I wanted to."

"Ikuto…"

"One kiss?" Ikuto pulled her closer to him. "You're just so irresistible…" Amu's cheeks burned bright scarlet. Ikuto leaned in closer, and when she didn't deny it, he pressed his lips to hers. She felt him smile against her lips and Amu closed her eyes, but then Ikuto parted from her. "Let's change before we get too _deep_ into the kiss." Ikuto smirked at her and Amu scowled at him.

"Get out!" Amu demanded.

"As you wish, my Princess," Ikuto said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Amu turned towards her dresser and got out her bathing suit. It was a pink bikini top with purple stripes and a black bikini bottom. She groaned when she remembered she had left her one piece at home. She really didn't feel like wearing her bikini in front of Ikuto. Especially since they were going to be swimming. _Alone. _

She quickly slipped into the bikini and looked at herself in the mirror. She decided she looked all right, but she quickly wrapped herself in her own beach towel. She grabbed her flip flops and slid them on when she heard a knock on her door. She opened the door to see Ikuto smiling at her in only dark blue and black swim shorts and black flip flops.

Amu tamed the red blush that wanted to rise to her cheeks. Ikuto smirked at her.

"Amu, why don't you take off that towel? I told you there was some in the pool house."

"Sorry, Ikuto. I don't feel like walking around in just my swim suit to the pool house. Especially since there are still guests here."

"Don't worry about them. They're either still in the back yard or in the front yard. The pool house on the side of the house."

"Still."

"Fine, Amu. Do whatever you want. I got the key, by the way, so let's just go."

"Okay, fine."

Ikuto smirked again as he took one of her hands, leaving the other to support her towel. He led her to a door on the side of the house which led outside, which led to the pool house. The pool house was a glass mini house with the capacity of a large pool and multiple pool chairs and even a few tables. There was also a towel rack and shelves that were lined with white towels. The pool house was also pretty tall, so there was a diving board on the pool.

Ikuto took off his flip flops and placed the key on a hook next to the door. He smirked at her before diving into the water, splashing water onto the cemented floors. Amu rolled her eyes. _Show off, _she thought. She looked back at the pool. His head was then visible and he took in a gulp of air.

"Come on in, Amu!" he exclaimed.

"I'm coming," Amu assured him. Ikuto shrugged before going back under the water. Amu took this chance to quickly take off her towel and her flip flops and head towards the pools edge. She quickly got in before he resurfaced so he didn't get to fully see her in her bikini out of the water.

Ikuto then resurfaced on the other end of the pool. He looked around and then saw her and smiled. He swam over to her. "Hey, Babe, you finally decided to join me."

"I'm not your babe and I had already decided. You're just not patient."

"Oh, really?"

"Really. You're very impatient."

"I was talking about the babe thing. Because last time I checked, you were definitely my babe."

Amu looked at him, her eyebrows raised. "Last time you checked…? What does that even mean?" Ikuto laughed and grabbed her and pulled her under the water by surprise. They resurfaced and Amu spit out the water she had in her mouth. "What did you do that for?"

He smiled at her. "You looked like you needed to refresh yourself?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Amu smiled mischievously at him. "Okay, wise guy, we'll see who needs to be refreshed." Amu swam a little bit away from Ikuto and then splashed him in the face. Amu laughed at Ikuto's confused look.

Then he smirked at her. "Oh, so you want to splash?" Amu laughed as he began splashing her and she splashed back. The splash fight lasted a few more moments before Ikuto wrapped his arms around her, preventing her arms from moving, and pressing her onto his bare chest.

"No fair!" Amu complained. "You're stronger than me! You can't do that! "

"Yes I can," Ikuto replied with a large grin on his face. Amu struggled against his hold, but it was no use, he wouldn't release his grip on her.

Amu sighed. "Fine, you win."

"I know."

Amu rolled her eyes. "You're so modest, Ikuto."

"Only for you, Amu-koi." She looked up at him. He smiled down at her.

"Hey, can you let me go now?"

"And why would I want to do that?"

"I told you won! The game's over!"

Ikuto leaned his head closer to hers. "And when did I say this was a game?"

Amu violently started flushing. "S-s-shut up… Let me go, Jerk!"

"No."

"Jerk!"

"Kiss me first."

"No! Let go of me."

"No."

Someone laughed behind them, causing them both to turn. A boy with golden eyes and dark blue hair. His hair was like Ikuto's, but more or less spiked out everywhere. He wore a black t-shirt and dark jeans.

Ikuto scowled at him. "How did you get in here, Yoru?"

The boy continued laughing and then when he had calmed down, he began. "And hello to you to Ikuto!"

"How did you get in here?" Ikuto repeated. "And what do you want?"

"I asked your dad where you were and he told me the pool house. He gave me the spare key, since you usually spend all your time under the water and probably wouldn't hear me when I knocked."

"What do you want?"

Yoru smiled at them. "Come on, Ikuto! I want to meet my almost step-cousin!" Ikuto slowly let go of her as Yoru came to the edge of the pool. "Hiya! I'm Tsukiyomi Yoru, Ikuto's wonderful and awesome cousin."

Amu gave him a small smile. "I'm Amu."

"Now that you're all introduced, what do you want, Yoru?" Ikuto asked coolly. "I know it's not to swim, since you hate the water."

"Seriously, I just came by to meet Amu and say 'hi' to you again," Yoru responded with a smile.

Ikuto shrugged. "Fine."

"You thought I was going to try and steal Amu from you, didn't you?" Yoru said with a grin.

"Shut up, Yoru," Ikuto responded.

Amu rolled her eyes. "I'm _not _his."

"Don't worry, Ikuto! I already have a girlfriend," Yoru said.

"Miki said yes?" Ikuto asked.

"Yeah!"

Ikuto gave Yoru a smile. "Good job, kid."

"Well, I guess I'll be going. Nice meeting you, Amu-san!"

"Nice meeting you too," Amu said with a small smile.

Yoru grabbed the spare key and turned towards the door. "Oh!" He looked back at them. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about you guys, if you don't want me to." Yoru winked at them and then left.

(A/N: Chapter 7: DONE. Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be updated soon enough.)


	8. Chapter 8

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 8

Amu woke up at nine in the morning. She tried to remember what day it was. She went over to the calendar and bit her lip. Two more days until the rehearsal dinner. A few days after that would be the bachelor party, and then the next day, the wedding. Amu sighed. Everything was happening so fast, it seemed unreal.

Midori had told her that everybody was going to be at the dinner, even if they missed the engagement party or bridal shower, every person who was going to attend the wedding would be there. Her mom had already started on name places for seating arrangements. Every once in a while, a family member would show up, or Mr. Young, or the wedding planner, Ms. Reed.

Amu heard a buzzing noise and saw her phone on her dresser vibrate. Amu grabbed it and opened it. It was Kukai.

"Hello?"

_"Hey, Amu!"_

"Hi, Kukai!" Amu smiled at hearing her best friend's voice again.

_"How are you doing? It seems like such a long time since I've seen you!" _

"I know! Yeah, I'm okay. You?"

_"I'm fine. Excited about the dinner?"_

"I guess..."

_"You guess? Is something wrong?"_

"No, no. Everything's fine. Don't worry about it, Kukai."

_"You know you can tell me anything, right? I'm here for you."_

"Thanks, but really, everything's fine." There was a knock on her door, and before she could say 'come in' Ikuto walked inside.

"Hey, Amu," he said with a smile.

"Hold on, Kukai," Amu said. Ikuto's smile vanished. "What?" Amu asked him, frowning. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Ikuto said with a shrug.

"Go away, I'm talking on the phone!"

"Nope."

"Fine, whatever," Amu said glaring at him. She went back to her conversation. "Hey, Kukai. Sorry, I'm back."

_"No problem, Amu! Everything all right over there?"_

"Yeah, it was just Ikuto."

_"Okay, then!" _Ikuto muttered something incomprehensible under his breath as he stretched out on the bed. _"Anyway, Rima, Yaya, and I are going to the mall today around one. Want to come?" _

Amu looked at her watch. It was almost ten thirty. "Sure, I'd love to come! But, I'll have to ask my mom first."

_"Yeah, of course. Well, we're all meeting at my house at twelve thirty and then we'll hit the mall!" _

"That sounds like a lot of fun! I'll text you if I can go or not, 'kay?"

_"Sure! I hope you can make it, Amu!" _

"Yeah, me too!"

_"Bye!" _

"Bye, Kukai!" Amu smiled as she hung up the phone.

"Where does he want to take you?" Ikuto asked from behind her.

"Not that it's any of your business, but the mall with Rima and Yaya. Now, excuse me, but I have to go and ask my mom if I can go." She rushed out of the room leaving a smiling Ikuto laying on her bed.

"Okay, Amu," he said out loud. "I'll let you go to the mall with your friends." His smile grew. "I think it's a good day to go to the mall. Maybe Nagi, Kairi, and Utau would agree?" He got out his phone from his pocket and dialed Utau's number.

_"Hello?" _he heard he say on the other line.

"Hey, Utau."

_"What do you want Ikuto?" _

"What do you think about going to the mall? I'm going to ask Nagi and Kairi after. At, let's say, one?"

Amu had a large smile on her face as Midori drove her to Kukai's house. She was really happy that she could just hang out with her friends. She was a little surprised that Ikuto wasn't coming along, though. It wasn't like she _wanted _him there… right? Amu shook her head. She didn't want to actually _miss _him while she was away for one afternoon. That would be…

Amu smiled as Kukai's house came into view. Her mom pulled up into his driveway. She had said that she wanted to see Kukai's mom. Amu got out of the car and ran up to the house where she rang the doorbell.

"I got it," someone said from inside the house. The door opened to reveal Kukai's eldest brother, Kaidou. He was much buffer than Kukai and he'd always tease Kukai about Amu, saying that she was his girlfriend. "Afternoon, Amu-san," he said, looking at her with a knowing look. "Haven't seen you here in a while."

"Well I live farther away now," Amu said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. That was always a touchy subject for her, being so far away from her friends.

"Kaidou, who is it?" Kukai's mom called from somewhere inside the house.

"It's Amu-san!" Kaidou called back.

"Amu?!" Amu heard Kukai's familiar voice exclaim from somewhere inside the house.

"Yeah, Kukai, you're girlfriend's here," Kaidou said. That's when Kukai appeared at the doorway with a big smile on his face.

"Hey, Amu!"

"Hi, Kukai," Amu greeted him with a smile.

"Come on in!" Amu walked inside the house and Kaidou kept the door open for her mom. "Yaya and Rima are already here! I'm so happy that you could come, Amu!"

"Yeah, me too!" He led her to his room. Since Kukai had four older brothers and one younger brother, Kukai shared a room with the third youngest, Rento Rento wasn't in the room, though, at the time. Instead, Amu saw Yaya and Rima with big smiles on their faces in the room.

"Amu-chi!" Yaya exclaimed, giving her a big hug.

"Amu!" Rima said, giving Amu a hug.

"Hey, guys!" Amu said with a smile. When they broke the embrace, Amu looked around the room. It was more or less the same since she'd last seen it, which had been a while ago. The room wasn't exactly large, not nearly as close as her room back at the Tsukiyomi house, but it wasn't too small either. There were two beds, one on either side of the room. The room was decorated with posters of famous athletes and sports trophies. Well, that was mostly on Kukai's side of the room. Rento's side wasn't decorated very much, although it had a few photographs here and there.

"Kukai, didn't Kaidou move out with his girlfriend?" asked Rima.

Kukai laughed. "Yeah but he still visits here every once in a while. Since Dad left, he tries to help mom with Daichi."

"Yaya thinks your dad is rotten a big fat meanie for leaving your mommy with a new born baby!" Yaya exclaimed.

Kukai laughed. "Dad just had a lot of things on his mind, I guess. I feel bad for Mom though. I think she was hoping for a girl. Now she has six sons."

"But now it's only you, Rento, Unkai, and Daichi still living here, right? Since Kaidou and Shuusui moved out."

"Yeah, I guess. They all visit here a lot, though. They try to help Mom with Daichi. Kaidou just says he's bored and has nothing else better to do, but we all know he feels bad for her."

"Well yeah," Rima said sourly. "Your dad got your mom pregnant and left."

Kukai smiled sadly. "Yeah…"

Amu looked at her friend sadly. She knew how close he had been with his father. And even though it was a while ago, he was still affected. She hated seeing the optimistic, energetic Kukai look sad. "So are we going to the mall or what?"

The others smiled at her. "Let's go!"

Kukai was driving with Amu in the passenger's seat and Yaya and Rima in the back. It didn't take long before they arrived at the mall.

Kukai parked the car and then headed into the mall.

Yaya gave let out a cry of joy. "Yaya loves the mall so, so much!"

"Calm down, Yaya," Rima said, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. "Where do you want to go first?"

"Yaya wants to go to Build-a-Bear! Build-a-Bear!" Yaya said jumping up and down.

Rima didn't even respond.

Amu gave her friends a smile. "Why don't we head towards—"

"Amu!" The four turned to see who called Amu's name. Amu had to keep her jaw from dropping.

Ikuto, Utau, Nagihiko, and Kairi were walking towards them, Ikuto smiling in front as he led his friends to meet Amu and hers.

"Ikuto?!" Amu exclaimed bewildered. "What-?!"

Ikuto walked straight to Amu and gave her a big hug. He then let her go and smiled at her. "Hello, Amu. Isn't this a coincidence, meeting up with all of you here?"

Amu glared at him. "Sure, a coincidence." She had no idea why, but she was somewhat happy that Ikuto showed up. It just seemed more… normal with him around.

"Hey, Utau-san!" Kukai said with a big smile. Utau nodded towards him before turning her head. Was it just Amu, or did Utau's face look… red? "It's nice seeing all of you again!"

"It's nice to see you guys too," Nagihiko said with a smile.

"We should all shop together!" Yaya exclaimed happily. "That would be so, so fun!"

"That's what I was thinking," Ikuto agreed, smiling at Amu.

Amu glared at him, so she wouldn't turn bright red.

"That's sounds great but where does every body want to go?" Rima said.

"BUILD-A-BEAR!" Yaya exclaimed.

"Absolutely not," Utau said. "I am not going there."

"I didn't really have a thought as to where I would prefer going," Kairi said, adjusting his glasses. "Perhaps with the different tastes that we have, it would be best to split up and then all meet back at some coffee shop, possibly?"

"That's a good idea," Nagi agreed.

"That's cool!" Kukai said with a grin. "I wanted to check out a new ramen place—"

"You know that's funny," Ikuto said with a sly grin. "Utau wanted to, too."

Utau's eyes widened and she turned towards him.

"That's great!" Kukai said. "Let's go together, Utau-san!"

He took Utau's hand and started running with her towards the ramen place.

Ikuto smiled as they left.

"YAYA WANT'S TO GO TO BUIILD. A. BEAR!" Yaya announced, once again.

"Well, Yuiki-san, I could accompany you to—" Kairi started before Yaya grabbed his hand and ran at full speed towards wherever Build-a-Bear was.

As she ran she shouted, "BUILD-A-BEAR, YAYA IS COMING FOR YOU!"

Rima watched them leave. "Well Amu, let's go to H&M—"

"Actually," Nagi cut in. "I'd like to take you to H&M, Mashiro-san." He gave her a polite, innocent, breath-taking smile.

Rima looked at him coolly. "Why would a boy want to go to H&M?"

Nagihiko smiled at her. "Why not? I'd also like to get to know you better, Mashiro-san."

She continued her cold glare at him and grabbed onto Amu's hand. "I'm not going anywhere without Amu." Amu laughed nervously.

Ikuto turned his head away and frowned. Everything was going great, except for Mashiro. Maybe it _was_ a mistake in itself to want to shop with Amu, but was it his fault that he wanted to be with as much as possible. And he didn't exactly want Nagi and Mashiro to tag along.

"Well, Nagihiko-san can come along if he wants, right Rima?" Amu said, trying to break the tension.

Rima kept on glaring at him. Nagi just smiled in response.

"I'm guessing Mr. Tsukiyomi would have to come too, right?" Rima said.

Amu glanced over to him. Ikuto smirked at her. "I guess so…"

"Then it's settled. We'll all go to H&M together!" Nagi concluded with a smile. Rima glared at him.

The four walked towards the store. Rima had a firm grip on Amu's hand and they walked in front of Ikuto and Nagihiko, who were both slightly upset. They both wanted time alone with the girls they liked.

Utau never would've thought this would have happened to her. He was literally right there, sitting with her, eating ramen. The ramen actually wasn't that bad, but there were other 'things' to pay attention to. Or people. Or person. Or one person in particular. Who was she kidding; there was _Kukai _to pay attention to.

She tried her best not to stare. She would of course, look at him and make eye contact. He was really good at making… eye contact with her… And his eyes were absolutely gorgeous. Such a beautiful emerald green….

"Utau-san? Utau-san?" Utau blinked and looked at him. "You okay? You weren't saying anything."

"No, no, I'm fine," Utau said quickly. She mentally cursed herself.

"That's good! Oh, you better hurry with your food; your ramen will get cold," he said giving her a big smile. Utau nodded and started eating, trying very, very hard not to blush. "So how long have you known Ikuto-san?"

"My whole life, I guess. Our parents are friends and he came to the hospital when I was born."

"Wow! That is literally your whole life! That's awesome!"

"You… think?"

"Yeah! I think it's really cool to be friends with someone for so long!"

"Well it's not like I said that we have been friends for my whole life…"

"But haven't you?" Kukai said with a large smile. His eyes gleamed with happiness.

"I… guess you could say that…"

Kukai put a spoonful of ramen in his mouth. "Wow! Isn't this ramen really good?! It's delicious!"

Utau smiled and looked down at her plate. "Yeah, it's actually really good."

"Wow…"

Utau's smile faded and she looked at him in alarm. "What?"

He smiled at her. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile before! You have a really pretty smile!"

She couldn't stop the redness that instantly came to her cheeks. She couldn't even lie or try to hide it. Thankfully he seemed to disregard it and go back to his ramen. Utau hesitated and cleared her throat. "And… um… you and, uh, Amu are pretty close, huh?"

He smiled at her again. "Yeah! We've been best friends for a really long time! Since we were little kids!"

"Oh…," Utau said disappointedly. She hoped he didn't catch the disappointment in her tone.

"We've been together for so long that mostly everyone teases us and says we're boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Oh…" Utau shrunk slightly in her seat. That's when she heard him laugh.

"But we're only friends!" he laughed. "Just the idea of us being in a romantically involved relationship just doesn't seem right, you know?" He smiled at her. "I mean, I love Amu, but like a best friend. Like a little sister!" He laughed again and went back to his ramen.

Utau looked at him again, her eyes wide. So… he didn't… care for Amu _that _way? He just… liked her like a friend? Like a sister? Utau felt happiness wash out any doubt and sadness and disappointment that was inside of her. If she didn't have self-control, she would've grabbed him, right then and there, and kissed him so passionately that—She stopped herself. She didn't want to get _too _excited. "That's like with me and Ikuto. He's like my older brother." _Yeah, _she thought to herself. _The annoying older brother who tries to mess with your love life. _She smiled slightly. She was really happy, however, whenever Ikuto tried to push Kukai and Utau together.

Like that day. She had never even mentioned ramen to him, but he had told Kukai that and then she figured out that Kukai didn't have any romantic feelings towards Amu! Unless, of course, he was lying, but it didn't seem like he was lying, not to her anyway. How would anyone be able to lie and laugh and say things so confidently like he had? Exactly.

"Hey, Utau-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I have your number?" Utau blinked at him. He gave her a nervous laugh.

"Well you know, it's not like what you _might _be thinking, 'cause, 'cause, you know we just met and all and we hardly know each other—" Kukai said, a little quicker than he probably meant to.

Utau smiled at him. "Sure."

Kukai stopped blabbering and smiled back at her. "Great! Thank you!" Utau 's face was bright red as she wrote down her number on a napkin and handed it to him. "Thank you, Utau-san." Utau looked at him. He smiled at her with a smile she hadn't seen before. It wasn't energetic, but it was still a happy smile. He looked… Utau took the thought out of her head. That couldn't be possible. Just because he didn't have feelings for Amu, didn't mean he had feelings for her. And asking for someone's number wasn't _that _big of a deal… But still… That smile. It looked…

"THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!" Yaya announced as she and Kairi entered Build-a-Bear Workshop.

"Please, Ms. Yuiki-san, maybe you should lower your voice—Where'd she go?" Kairi looked around the store. There was a row of bins with unstuffed bears of different colors and other animals. On the other walls there were rows of clothes and accessories for the stuffed animals. Kairi adjusted his glasses. This was not a place for someone, as old as him, to be in. Little children ran around the store, holding stuffed and unstuffed bears, begging their parents for some article of clothing or accessory or crying because their parent said 'no.'

Kairi had taken interest in Yaya since she had acted so young for her age. Considering she hung out with Amu, Rima, and Kukai, she must've been around fifteen or possibly even sixteen, but she acted as if she were seven, or maybe even younger. But she also seemed so free. Such a lover of life, and a care-free soul.

But at that moment, he had lost her in the sea of little children.

He looked around when someone grabbed his arm. He turned to see her holding up an unstuffed white bear.

"Isn't she cute, Kairi-kun?" she said with a big smile.

"Um, the, uh, unstuffed animal that you are holding might have a _sense _to it, yes. Although since it is inanimate, I can't fully say the item is 'cute' or actually determine the gender."

"Silly, Kairi-kun! In Build-a-Bear world, you can make your bear a girl _or _a boy!"

"I'm thinking you're intending to say, male or female?"

Yaya frowned at him. "Yaya didn't intend to say all that stuff!" She skipped over to the big stuffing machine where a lady put a hose in her bear and stuffed it up. A few moments later, Yaya brought back a fully stuffed white bear. She gave him a big smile and then frowned. "Where's you bear?"

Kairi blinked at her. "I only came to accompany you, Ms. Yuiki-san. I wasn't planning on actually making a bear myself."

Yaya looked at him with a determined smile. "Kairi-kun is going to get a bear!" She then grabbed his hand and they zoomed around the store. In a few moments, they were both standing by the cash register with two fully stuffed bears and two outfits. Yaya pulled out a small wallet covered in lollipops and other candies and she got out the money for the bears and their clothes.

"No, no, Yuiki-san, I insist on paying—"

Yaya smiled at him as she paid the lady. "Don't worry, Kairi-kun! Yaya had lots of fun here! Next time, you can bring Yaya back and then pay for her, okay?"

The lady at the register smiled at them. "You sure have a sweet girlfriend, don't you sir?"

"Yeah I do—" started Kairi when his eyes widened and he shook his head violently. "No! I'm sorry, Miss, but I think you misunderstood. Yuiki-san is only a friend! Well, technically, she's a friend's almost-step-sister's friend that I only accompa—"

"Yaya's too young to have a boyfriend," Yaya said to the lady with a smile. "And, Kairi-kun is only Yaya's friend."

Kairi stopped blabbering. Too young? His younger brother was thirteen and he had a girlfriend. Perhaps… she meant too young mentally? Emotionally?

She then gave him a big smile. "Come on! Let's go somewhere else, Kairi-kun!" Yaya said grabbing his arm and then running with him. "Yaya wants ice cream!"

Kairi smiled at her as he was dragged along with her.

Ikuto and Nagihiko were waiting in front of the changing rooms. Luckily, there were seats, so they sat as they waited for the girls.

"Ah...," Nagi started. "Shopping."

"Yeah," Ikuto said. He then stared at the changing room that he _knew _Amu was _changing _in. It took all of his power to stay in his seat. "Yo! Mashiro and Hinamori! Hurry it up, in there."

"Amu, I'm going to kill your step-brother," he heard Rima say.

"By all means," he heard Amu say.

"You know we can here you," Nagi pointed out.

"We know," Amu and Rima said in unison.

Nagihiko smiled at Ikuto. "Such lovely girls."

Ikuto smirked.

"Damn… Rima?" Amu said from inside the changing room.

"Yeah?" Rima answered.

"I think the zipper broke," he heard her say, barely audible, but enough for him to smile mischievously.

"On the dress you picked out?"

"Yeah…"

"Dammit."

Ikuto stood up and walked towards her door. He knocked on it. Too bad it was locked from the inside. "Amu. Let me in."

_"What?!" _Amu said from inside the changing room. "You're funny, no. Damn this dress! I can't even get it off… Rima, can you come in here and help me?!"

"I'm sorry, Amu, I'm not dressed yet. I'll be there in a moment, okay?" Ikuto looked over to Nagi. He nodded and went towards Rima's door. When she opened the door, he smiled at her. "Move." Nagi then embraced her and pushed her back into the changing room, where he followed, and then locked the door behind him. "Amu! This idiot is holding me hostage—" Then there was silence in the changing room.

"Rima? Rima?" Amu asked alarmed.

"I'm… okay… A-Amu… I can't g-get to you right n-now—" More silence, and the only sound was movement from inside.

"Ikuto what's happening to Rima?!" Amu demanded.

Ikuto smirked and answered casually, "She and Nagi are making out."

"What?!" Amu said. "Rima! Focus! This dress won't zip up or zip down so I am stuck in here and you're-!"

"A-Amu… I'll… be there—" Rima started before she was cut off yet again. (A/N: Sorry, this might be a little out of character for Nagi…)

"Rima!" Amu said. No answer.

"Listen, Amu, I can help you. Just let me in. We _are_ going to be siblings in the future, so you shouldn't so awkward about it," Ikuto said.

"Oh, really? And may I remind you _stepsiblings _is not the same thing as _siblings!" _Amu grouched.

"Don't worry, Amu. I definitely know that." He smiled. "Just let me in. I can fix the zipper."

Amu muttered something under her breath, before she answered. "Fine, but just fix the zipper and then leave!"

Ikuto chuckled. "Don't you trust me?"

"No, no I don't!"

"Okay, Amu, let me in."

There was slight movement and then the door cracked open. "Come in quickly, and I swear you better _not _be perverted about it."

"Sure, Amu, sure." Ikuto walked in and locked the door behind him. He then turned to look at Amu. He knew that staring might have been some form of being perverted, but he didn't care. She looked absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a sleeveless dark blue dress that ended a little bit above her knee. It was tight on the top, and then flowed on the bottom. It would've been perfect if it was zipped all the way up, but it stopped in the middle of her back, leaving the top part open. "Okay, turn around." Amu turned. He swallowed hard as he saw her bare back. He moved towards her and leaned closer to see the zipper that caused all that mess. It had been zipped up on the dress itself, causing it to be stuck.

"Can you fix it?"

"Of course I can." Ikuto gently brushed her hair over her shoulders so he could get a clear view. "You look beautiful, by the way," he whispered as he worked on the zipper.

He saw her blush and he smirked. "I-I told you not to be a perv!" she whispered back.

"I'm not. I'm only stating fact."

"I-Ikuto…"

Ikuto smiled as he got the cloth that was under the zipper out from underneath it. He slowly zipped it up to the top. "There. I told you I could fix it, now didn't I?"

Amu turned around and looked up at him. "Thank you."

Ikuto smiled down at her. "You really…" He leaned down towards her. "You really do look amazing…"

"No I don't…. You don't mean that," Amu said looking away.

"Oh, really?" Ikuto whispered. "You don't believe me?"

"As a matter of fact I don't."

He smirked and pressed his lips gently on hers, worming his arms around her waist pulling her close. He stopped and pulled his head back a little. "Do you believe me now?"

Amu looked into his eyes. "Not at all."

He grinned and kissed her again, this time longer and firmer. He felt her arms make their way around his neck. The kiss became more passionate, and when they both couldn't breathe anymore and they broke their kiss, Ikuto asked again. "What about now?"

Her face was red, but she slowly smiled. "I guess I'm starting to…"

Ikuto smiled even wider. "You need more proof?"

She closed her eyes. "Definitely." Ikuto leaned forward and was about to claim her lips once again, when there was a knock on the door. He scowled and broke their embrace and went to open the door. When he opened the door a crack, the person on the other side pushed it open, hard and ran in. It was Rima.

"Amu, are you okay?! I'm so sorry!" she yelled. She then stopped and looked at Amu with her zipper zipped up and Ikuto scowling at her. Amu's face was still red. "What happened in here?"

"R-Rima, um, you see—" Amu started.

"I helped Amu with her zipper," Ikuto explained casually.

"Well that's all great and everything but do you know what this jerk did to me?" Rima demanded.

Nagihiko smiled at them innocently. "Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it, Rima."

Rima whipped her head back towards him. "Don't call me Rima!" She turned back towards Amu and put a hand on her hip. "He thinks he can just _kiss_ me whenever he feels like it! One, he pushed me into the changing room and had the _nerve_ to lock it and then he started _kissing _me!"

"Rima, it's okay, just calm down—" Amu tried to say.

"No, it's _not _okay! He needs to be locked away! I count that as sexual harassment!"

"I would never sexually harass you, Mashiro-san—" Nagihiko started to say.

"I told you to call me Rima!" Rima yelled.

"B-but Rima, you just told him to call you Mashiro—" Amu tried to say.

"It doesn't matter!" Rima exclaimed. "What matters is that he kissed me without permission!"

"You didn't seem to mind," Nagi commented.

"What?!" Rima snapped.

"You _did _kiss back. It was only after the kiss when you started freaking out," Nagihiko said with an innocent smile. Rima was bright red now.

"Shut up!" she yelled.

"Yaya knew she'd find you guys here!" Yaya exclaimed running towards them with Kairi behind her. "H&M is Rima-chi's favorite store!"

Rima stopped yelling and looked at Nagi coolly. She then turned towards Yaya. "Yaya, we're are leaving. These people don't understand certain basics. She grabbed Yaya's hand and started walking.

"Yaya wants ice-cream! Yaya wants ice-cream!"

"Fine, as long as I don't see _him_ I'll be perfectly fine."

"Yay!" They then left, leaving Nagi, Kairi, Ikuto, and Amu.

"I'm going to go catch up with them," Nagi said with an innocent smile. "Coming Kairi?"

"Sure," Kairi said, following him out.

"Kairi, why do you have a stuffed bear?"

Ikuto watched them leave.

"I'm going to change back into my clothes," Amu said, grabbing her pile of clothes. She looked at Ikuto.

"Okay. Change."

"Without you watching, Ikuto. Get out of the changing room."

Ikuto sighed. "When are you going to stop being so stiff?"

"As soon as you stop being a pervert."

Ikuto walked out of the changing room and Amu locked the door behind him. Ikuto leaned against the door. "So are you going to get the dress?"

"Mmm… No, I don't think so."

"Really? After all that?"

"I mean, I _like _the dress, but it's just too much work to put on, you know?"

"Well, since I don't wear dresses I wouldn't know."

"Plus… it's not worth the money." Ikuto heard the click of the door and the door open. "You know?"

Ikuto smiled at her. "You ready to go then?"

"Yeah. Let's go," Amu responded with a smile. Ikuto put out his hand, and Amu took it.

(A/N: YAY! I finished this chapter! My longest chapter yet for this story! Next story will be updated soon. I really hope everyone is enjoying this story so far and thanks for all the support from everyone!)


	9. Chapter 9

(A/N: I just want to make a shout out to everyone who has stuck with me this far! Thank all of you so much! I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 9 (A/N: OMG, Chapter 9 already?!)

Amu and Ikuto were helping Mrs. Franklin set the tables in the main dining room for the rehearsal dinner that night. Amu kept catching Ikuto glancing over at her, and when their eyes locked, he would smile at her, and she would smile back. Mrs. Franklin was oblivious to this.

Amu was about to set a fork down when Mrs. Franklin snapped at her. "No, no, no!"

Amu looked at her in surprise. "E-excuse me-?"

"Didn't you pay attention? Goodness!" She quickly went over to Amu and rearranged the silver wear to the 'right' way. "Remember that next time! This is a great lesson for you!"

Ikuto shook his head and laughed softly under his breath. Amu gave him a look, but couldn't help smiling afterwards.

When they finished with the tables, Ikuto and Amu walked out of the dining room and went out to the back yard. That's when they started laughing.

"You don't mess with Mrs. Franklin's silver wear," Ikuto laughed.

"She snapped at me so fast, I thought I was going to be held for murder," Amu laughed.

Ikuto lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Amu lay down next to him. Ikuto looked at her with a strange look.

"What?" Amu asked.

"You're lying down next to me?"

Amu smiled and looked up at the sky. "That's strange. I'd think you'd be happy about it."

"Don't get me wrong, Amu. I am happy, of course, but this is so unusual of you. Don't you think I'm going to try something on you?"

Amu closed her eyes and smiled wider. "Of course I'd think that. But that's you, right? I'm used to it."

Ikuto smirked. "Does that mean you're used to me?"

Her face turned slightly red, but then she smiled once more. "I guess I am."

Ikuto looked at her and smiled. He had to admit he was slightly surprised. The sun was shining down on them, however wasn't too hot. The weather was just right. And she looked beautiful lying down next to him with her eyes closed on the grass.

"I can't believe," Amu breathed, "that tonight is the rehearsal dinner."

Ikuto frowned and moved to lie on his back and looked up at the drifting clouds in the sky. "Yeah… And after that, is the bachelor party… and then comes… the big day."

Amu sighed. "Everything is happening so fast…" She opened her eyes and turned her head towards him. He turned her head towards her.

"It is… isn't it?" Ikuto responded sadly. "Soon… We'll be step-siblings…" Ikuto looked away, he didn't want to think about.

Amu frowned and watched him. He looked so… sad. That's not how Ikuto should've looked. She then moved closer to him and surprised him by snuggling up to him and laying her head against his chest. "We shouldn't be sad. We need to be happy, okay? For our parents. I mean, we shouldn't think badly about the wedding. This is their special day, and it's sort of our too."

Ikuto looked at her sadly. He knew she was right… He knew how important Midori was to his father. Ikuto slowly wrapped his arms around Amu and held her close. "Okay. I'll try and be happy… for our parents… and for you." He kissed the top of her head and she looked up at him.

"Ikuto… Thank you," she said softly. He tried to give her a happy smile, but it turned out sad. She saw the sadness and instantly felt pain. Then she smiled and her body up towards him so they were face to face. "Don't be sad, Ikuto…"

"But Amu—" He was cut off when Amu pressed her lips against his. He was surprised that she had done that. That _she _had kissed _him. _It didn't take long for him to take control and to turn the kiss much more passionate. He moved their bodies so that she was lying on her back and he was hovering over her. Her hands ran threw his hair and he used one hand to balance himself, the other slid up and down her slim figure.

Their make out session lasted a few moments before they heard, "Amu! Amu, where are you?"

Ikuto broke their kiss and looked at her. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

They heard Midori call for her again. "Amu!"

Ikuto leaned down and started leaning down towards her and starting kissing her neck.

"Ikuto...," Amu whispered.

"Hmm?" Ikuto responded, kissing her up her neck and progressing to her ear. He then left kisses down her jaw, across her cheek, and then he placed his hot lips back on her lips.

"I-Ikuto…" Amu said softly through the kisses.

"What?" Ikuto whispered as he kissed her.

"My… M-my mom..."

"Mm hmm?" Ikuto responded, kissing her harder and more passionately.

"She's…" Amu tried to clear her head. It was very hard with him kissing her like that. When she heard her mom call for her again, she knew that they needed to stop. Now how was she going to get him off of her? She let go of his hair and moved her hands to his shoulders where she gave them a gentle push upwards. That broke the kiss.

"What, Amu?" Ikuto asked. He was about to lean in for another kiss, when Amu turned her head.

"My mom is calling for me," Amu explained. "If she starts looking for me and finds us_ like_ _this_…"

Ikuto sighed. "Fine… Go to your mother."

Amu gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and got up from the ground and headed towards the house to find her mom.

Ikuto smiled and lay back on the grass. She was finally getting used to him. Now she was kissing him. Was it unusual? Yep. Was it out of character? Definitely. But, hey. He wasn't complaining.

Amu opened the door and almost ran into her mother.

"Oh, there you are!" Midori said with a big smile.

"Hey, Mom. Sorry, I was outside," Amu said with a smile.

"Someone's on the landline for you. Use the phone in the kitchen."

"Who?"

"It's a surprise." Her mother winked at her and walked out the door. A confused Amu went towards the phone in the kitchen, that was laying on the table.

"Hello?"

_"Hi, Amu-chan! It's so good to hear your voice again," _a sweet, gentle voice said on the other line.

Amu could tell the voice was familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on who it was. "Um, sorry, but who is this?"

The voice on the other line laughed softly before answering. _"Did you forget me already, silly? It's Dia." _

Amu's smile widened. Hinamori Dia was her aunt on her father's side. Her dad's younger sister. Dia was in her late-twenties and was the best aunt a girl could have. Amu didn't like choosing favorites, but she preferred Dia much more that her mother's sisters. Although Aunt Aika was _all right. _Dia was still so much cooler.

The only problem was that she hadn't seen Dia much since Amu's dad died. At the time of her father's death, Dia had just finished college. Dia loved her brother and was also very sad at the time, so she tried to cure her sadness with traveling around the world, so that's what she did. In effect to that, Amu only saw Dia once or twice a year, maybe every two years.

"Aunt Dia!" she cried with joy. That's what she called Dia. Simply, 'Aunt Dia.' No, honorific needed. That's what Dia wanted and what Amu preferred.

_"Hey, Honey! How are you doing, Amu-chan? Holding up?_"

Amu sat in a chair at the table. "Yeah, I'm doing okay. How are you?"

_"I'm doing wonderful! Can you guess where I am now?" _

Amu smiled. "Hmm… Uh… America?"

Dia laughed softly. _"Close, but no. Try again!"_

"Uh… London?"

_"Nope! Here, I'll give you a hint. I'm somewhere in South America."_

Amu thought for a moment. "Brazil?

_"No."_

"Colombia?"

_"That's next week!" _Dia laughed.

"Venezuela?"

_"I'm actually going there tomorrow!" _

"Uh… Chile?"

_"Exactly! Good job, you won our game!"_

Amu smiled. "So how is Chile?"

_"Oh, it's beautiful, Honey. It really is! I need to take you with me here sometime, okay?"_

"Okay!"

Dia laughed again. She had such a beautiful, melodic laugh. _"How's Tsukiyomi-san? Oh, and I heard he had a kid too, right? Um… what was his name?"_

"Ikuto."

_"Yeah, that's it! How are they? Are they nice?"_

Amu was about to say that they were wonderful, but she paused. Was that right? Dia _was_ the sister of her mom's first husband. Would it be right to say that a new man and his son were amazing? Especially… the son… "They're… okay."

_"Well, that's good!"_

"Are you coming to the wedding?" Amu asked hopefully. She had asked without thinking. Didn't Dia just say she'd be in Colombia in a week? Amu frowned. And anyways, Dia was the sister of Mr. _Hinamori._ None of Amu's family on her dad's side was coming to the wedding. Amu mentally slapped herself. She didn't want Dia to feel guilty. But… she still felt like Dia was supposed to be there…

There was a pause on the other line. _"Amu-chan… I'm… I'm really sorry, but… Well, I would come if I could… but I'm leaving for Venezuela tomorrow, and then I'm heading towards Colombia and… it's not exactly right for the sister of the past husband to be at the wedding… I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I know how important this day must be—"_

Amu smiled and laughed. "Hey, don't worry about it. I was… just asking, that's all."

_"Okay, Honey! If you ever have anything you want to talk about, you know you can always just give me a call, right?" _

"Okay, thanks Aunt Dia!"

_"Bye, Amu-chan! I love you!" _

"Love you! Have fun in South America!" Amu responded before ending the call. Amu smiled at the phone.

"Who was that?" Amu turned to see Ikuto smiling at her from the doorway.

"My aunt Dia. She was my dad's sister," Amu responded. There was a slight hint of sadness in her voice. She hoped he missed that.

He walked over to her. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, why would I lie about that?" Amu asked, slightly surprised, but mostly offended.

"Calm down, I didn't mean it that way," Ikuto said with a smile. He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "Amu, you're so beautiful."

Amu blushed."Iku—"

"You're so different from the other girls that I've met. You're kind, and strong… And you love your friends and family. You have a big heart," he whispered in her ear. This made her blush more. "And you're the most amazing girl… that I've ever met."

"Ikuto…"

That's when they heard footsteps and Ikuto quickly let go of Amu and stepped back. Mrs. Franklin came in.

"Where have you two been?" she demanded.

"Uh…," Amu started.

"We were just outside and then we thought about coming in for a little snack," Ikuto finished with a smile.

"Get out of my kitchen!" she snapped. "The whole dinner for tonight is in here and I'm not finished yet!"

"S-sorry, ma'am—" Amu apologized.

"Don't '_sorry' _me! It's bad enough you don't help efficiently. Do you know how many guests are coming? Do you?"

Ikuto and Amu looked at each other. Amu smiled nervously. "Um… a lot?" she answered.

Mrs. Franklin scoffed. "A lot, hmm? You're lucky you're not _my _child! There almost one hundred guests coming and your mother and I are cooking for all of them! Now get out and make yourselves useful!"

Ikuto grabbed Amu's hand. "Yes, Mrs. Franklin." He then led Amu out of the kitchen.

They walked together into the living room where they sat together on one of the couches.

"I don't think that Mrs. Franklin likes me very much," Amu said.

Ikuto put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "Don't worry. She grows on you. And she's not mad at you; she's just stressed out with the whole wedding thing."

"Okay…"

Ikuto kissed her forehead. "Just don't worry, okay?"

"Okay," Amu said with a small smile, her cheeks a light red.

Ikuto grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The Lighting Thief was playing. "Want to watch this?"

"Sure," Amu responded. She hadn't seen the movie before, but she had read the books. She could help but notice how… wonderfully _hot _Logan Lerman, the guy who played Percy Jackson, was. She blushed when she thought that. But it was so true.

Ikuto didn't care much about the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series very much, but he admitted the movie wasn't _that _bad. That is until he saw Amu blushing when they showed a close up of the main character, Percy Jackson. He remembered when the movie first came out and mostly all the girls at his school were going on and on about how hot Logan Lerman was.

Ikuto scowled. He had met Logan before, since Rick Riordan, the writer of the book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, had seen his dad play in a concert and had a meet and great with him back stage. Rick had then invited Aruto and Ikuto to go see a preview of the movie, since it wasn't in theatres yet, with the actors. So Ikuto and Logan met. They were about the same age as well. He was very nice, but wasn't exactly Ikuto's type of person to hang around. But it wasn't like they talked a lot. Apparently, movie stars were very busy.

Ikuto rolled his eyes as Amu smiled and blushed when 'Percy' sat at the bottom of a pool shirtless.

Her eyes were glued to the screen. Ikuto scowled again. _Damn him, _he thought.

"Amu," he said. She didn't respond. "Amu. Earth to Amu."

"Huh?" she responded, not taking her eyes away from the screen.

Ikuto glared at Logan Lerman. "Amu, I'm going to get us some food."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, okay, sure."

Ikuto rolled his eyes again and got off the couch and went towards the kitchen. Thankfully, Mrs. Franklin wasn't in there. Ikuto was about to walk towards the fridge, when someone rang the doorbell. Ikuto turned and went to answer the door. He opened the door to see Utau. A very frantic Utau.

"Hello Uta—"

"IDIOT!" she yelled. She pushed him hard and he almost tripped over his own feet. Luckily, he had fast reflexes and good balance.

"Dammit, what the—" She cut him off again when she slapped him hard on the face. Okay… maybe his reflexes could use _a little _work. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Y-you—Y-you-! You caused this!" she screamed, she was about to slap him again, when he caught her hand in midair. That's when he noticed she was shaking and crying at the same time.

Amu, who had heard the noise, ran into the room. "U-Utau-san? What's going on?"

Utau whipped her head towards Amu and was about to charge towards her when Ikuto caught her around her waist. Utau was screaming and struggling against Ikuto's hold. Amu didn't know what to think. It looked like Utau wanted to kill her.

"I can't believe I actually believed! And it's both of your faults! Damn both of you!" Utau yelled.

Amu looked at her in surprise. "U-Utau-san, w-what-?"

Ikuto gave her a warning look. "Amu, just go. I'll take care of this." Amu hesitated before nodding and heading back towards the living room. Ikuto picked up the struggling Utau and took her to the first empty room he could find, his dad's office.

He let her down and let go of her. She had calmed down… a little.

"Utau, tell me what happened." She had her fists clenched and looked down. Tears ran down her face. "Utau. What happened?"

She was still shaking. Without looking at him, she answered. "It's all your damn fault. You made me believe that… that he could actually…." She bit her lip and clenched her fist harder so her knuckles turned an unnatural white. She continued to sob.

"Utau."

She looked up at him. "It's you damn fault! You kept… You kept p-pushing us together…" Ikuto understood what this was about. _Kukai. _

"Utau, tell me. What happened between you two? I thought—"

"Well you thought wrong," she snapped, her bottom lip trembling. "You want to know what happened? Fine, I'll tell you. We went out."

"Utau, you should be happy about—"

"We went out and I _was_ happy. I thought we were together after that, okay? But I thought wrong. I asked him if he wanted to go out to lunch with me, he said he had other plans. I drove past his house and I saw him on the front porch—" She struggled to say her last sentence. "I saw him…" She bit her lip and started to sob. "I saw him making out with a strawberry blonde." Ikuto's eyes widened. "His hands… were all over her."

She then burst out in tears. "Utau…" He wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his chest. "I'm… I didn't know that he would do that."

She then pushed away from him. "Well, I guess that makes both of us."

"Did you talk to him?"

"He… He called… and texted… but I wouldn't answer him. H-he wanted to know… why I wouldn't answer h-him."

"Listen, Utau," Ikuto started, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You need to talk to him. Let him explain himself. I'm… I'm sorry he hurt you. I didn't think he'd do something like that to you."

Utau smiled sadly at him. "I didn't think he'd do that either." Utau wiped her eyes and sniffed. "Maybe that's why I fell for him so badly. He made me feel so special… and happy… he seemed like that guy that… was so good hearted… and that it was simply impossible for him to hurt you." She looked down. "But I was wrong… " Utau then patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry. I needed someone to talk to."

"Utau," Ikuto sighed.

"Thank you." Utau gave him a short hug. "Thank you for giving me a chance at love."

"Utau. Listen, it's… my fault, I pushed you two together—"

"No. Ikuto, I'm really grateful. Love… doesn't happen much to me, you know that." Before Ikuto could say another word, Utau gave him another pained smile and then headed out of the office and then out the front door.

Ikuto scowled and leaned back on his father's desk. "Dammit…" Utau was his closest friend and was like a younger sister to him. She was right. She wasn't much of the lovey-dovey type and not very social. Lots of guys looked her way, but she didn't look theirs. Of course she had dated before… but Kukai had been Utau's first real…

"Ikuto?" Ikuto turned to see Amu standing in the doorway. She looked concerned… and alarmed. "What happened?"

Ikuto sighed and went over to her and embraced her. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Don't… worry about it." He knew how close Kukai was to Amu. He didn't want Amu to feel upset about what had happened with Kukai and Utau. But… maybe… "Amu." Ikuto took his head off her shoulder and looked at her. "Amu… can I ask you a question?"

"What? Sure, I guess."

"Does Kukai have a girlfriend?"

Amu laughed. Ikuto raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"

"Yes."

"Well, no, Kukai doesn't have a girlfriend." She laughed again. "Sorry, but Kukai's just not really the romantic type. It's hard to picture him with a girl."

"Amu, does Kukai know any strawberry blonde girls?"

Amu looked at him confused. "I don't think so… but… why? Is… Did Kukai tell you about a girlfriend?" She frowned. "Why wouldn't he tell me…?"

Ikuto laughed sourly. "Amu, you're getting ahead of yourself."

"Um, I can ask Kukai if you want—"

"No. Okay?" Ikuto smiled at her.

"But—"

Ikuto embraced her once more. "Please, Amu… Can we go back to the movie now?"

Amu hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. Ikuto held her hand as they moved back towards the living room. He scowled. He needed to talk to Kukai.

The guests had finished arriving for the rehearsal dinner and everyone was seated and eating. Ikuto and Amu sat with their parents and their grandparents at a table. Ikuto sat beside Amu. Ikuto looked over towards a table a few tables away. That's where his and Amu's friends sat. Utau wasn't sitting next to Kukai like he had planned, but after the whole drama with Kukai, Ikuto had switched Utau's seat with Nagihiko's. He felt bad, though, since Nagi wasn't sitting next to Rima.

Their friend's parents sat together at a different table.

At different times, a few friends or family would come up to Aruto and Midori to congratulate them. Besides that and the soft music played overhead, the dinner was quite… boring.

Ikuto quickly finished his plate and excused himself from the table. He then walked over to Utau's table.

"Hey guys," he said with a smile. They greeted him. Utau gave him a quick nod. "Kukai? I need to see you for a second." Ikuto saw Utau's eyes widen, put she quickly looked down.

"Uh, okay…," Kukai responded. He got up and followed Ikuto outside the main dining room.

When they entered an empty guest room, Ikuto looked Kukai up and down. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Kukai looked at him, baffled. "Excuse me?"

Ikuto leaned in close to him. "You. Hurt. Her."

This made Kukai even more confused, and alarmed. "Hurt? Who'd I hurt?" His eyes widened. "Did I hurt Amu?"

Ikuto swallowed the new anger that he had for the worry that Kukai seemed to have when mentioning hurting Amu. "No, Kukai. Who the hell where you kissing yesterday?"

"What?"

"Strawberry blonde chick? Who was she?"

Kukai looked at him for a moment, and then seemed to realize what he meant. "Oh! You mean Rebecca-chan!"

"You were kissing her yesterday. Why?"

Kukai's smile vanished. "You saw?"

"No. _Utau _saw," Ikuto snapped.

Kukai groaned. "Dammit. Is that why she wasn't answering me?"

"Why'd you do it, Kukai?"

Kukai rubbed his temples. "Oh, God. Dammit. Dammit! I've ruined it, haven't I?"

"Kukai."

"Yes, sorry. Uh, Rebecca-chan is an ex-girlfriend of mine, uh—"

"Ex? Really? Utau said you were making out. You don't do that with your ex, unless you've gotten back together."

Kukai frowned sadly. "She had come by to talk about getting back together, but I didn't want to. She kissed me… and one thing led to another… But I stopped that kiss! I mean it, Ikuto-san! I don't like her! I told her she needed to stop it and go away and that we were over. I was just… caught off guard. I was… thinking about Utau."

Ikuto raised in eyebrow in delight. "Utau? You were… thinking about Utau?"

Kukai blushed. "Well, uh, see—" He sighed. "What can I say? I really like her…" He frowned. "Dammit, I've messed everything up, haven't I?"

Ikuto nodded. "Yeah. But I see the misunderstanding."

Kukai smiled. "We went out, you know. She's… the most amazing girl I've ever met…"

"Well you better talk to her. It looked pretty bad. You denying a date because you had 'plans' and then she finding you making out with some girl."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I really did have plans, with the family. We went to a soccer game. She was there when I got back."

"Did Amu know about her?"

Kukai smiled slightly. "No… I never told her about Rebecca…"

"Why not?"

"It was a few years ago. Uh, Amu was going through something and she needed me. I didn't want to tell her I had a relationship because then she'd feel bad about keeping me away from her."

Ikuto nodded in understanding. "I think that you should go and talk to Utau now, Kukai. She was pretty upset."

He smiled slightly. "She… cares about me that much?"

Ikuto laughed softly. "Don't tell her I told you. She'll kill me."

Kukai laughed. "Okay, thanks, Ikuto-san!" Kukai rushed back into the dining room, followed by Ikuto. Ikuto watched Kukai go over to Utau and lead her out of the dining room. Ikuto smiled and walked back to his table.

"Where were you?" whispered Amu.

"Just fixing a mess I made," Ikuto answered with a smile. Amu looked at him, completely baffled. Ikuto laughed softly and placed his hand on top of hers under the table. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just… stay away from any exes, okay?"

"Huh? Exes?"

Ikuto only smiled. He looked back towards the open doorway. Kukai and Utau hadn't returned yet.

"Ikuto? Could you and Amu-chan help clear the plates?" Aruto asked.

"Sure, Dad," Ikuto answered.

They took the finished plates and headed towards the kitchen. When they entered the kitchen, Amu's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. Ikuto looked slightly surprised but then pleased. In front of them, leaning against the counter, was Kukai and Utau. And they were making out. Very… passionately…

They didn't seem to notice Ikuto and Amu standing in the doorway.

Ikuto looked at Amu. She was very red and looked very surprised. Ikuto didn't know if he should be amused or upset at that. He then looked at Kukai and Utau. They were still kissing. Ikuto cleared his throat and started laughing. Kukai and Utau both turned towards them and turned bright red. They then jumped away from each other and continued to blush ferociously.

"U-u-um, A-Amu—" Kukai started.

Ikuto continued to laugh and took the dishes from a frozen Amu and walked past Utau and Kukai with the dishes and placed them in the sink. He then turned back, took Amu's hand, and led her back towards the dining room.

(A/N: Next update: SOON )


	10. Chapter 10

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 10

Utau sat beside Kukai on a bench in the park. His arm was around her, holding her close. They were sitting there in a peaceful silence, listening to the birds sing. On normal circumstances, this would've been a cheesy event. But it wasn't. Because she was with _him. _

He had explained to her about Rebecca. He told her he was stupid and that it happened so fast. She wasn't going to forgive him, but then he kissed her and everything felt warm and happy again. When he told her that he loved her, she knew that he didn't mean to do what he did. He was just simply, amazing. They had kissed again before they were rudely interrupted by Ikuto and Amu.

She sighed and she pressed her face against his chest. She closed her eyes.

He smiled down at her. "Utau?"

"Mm hmm?" she answered, her eyes still closed.

"I love you."

Utau opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him. He had a most amazing smile. A smile that she knew meant he was in love. That made her happy. That she could make him smile like that. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. She ended the kiss and smiled at him. "I love you, too."

Kukai gave her a smile in return. "Hoshina Utau… you're… the most amazing person I've ever met…"

Utau felt like she was going to cry, and Hoshina Utau didn't cry easily. "What…. What about Hinamori Amu?"

Kukai looked at her. "Amu? Utau, I told you… Amu's just a close friend." He embraced her. "Don't worry about her. I don't want to kiss _her _every time I see or think about her. _" _

Utau smiled against his chest. He then let her go, but he still kept one arm around her. "Kukai? You're going to the bachelor's party, right?"

Kukai smiled. "Yeah! My older brothers are too. Mom's going to stay home with Daichi."

"Your… brothers?"

"Oh yeah!" Kukai exclaimed with a smile. "You haven't met them yet!"

"Didn't you say you had… three older brothers?"

Kukai smiled. "Four actually. And one little brother."

Utau nodded. "I feel bad for your mother."

Kukai laughed. "Yeah! We all do. I think she's been wishing for at least _one_ girl this whole time. But it's getting easier for her since two have already moved out."

"I would hate to have six boys."

Kukai laughed again. "Ah, come on. My mom had six boys and we're doing just fine."

"Tell that to your poor mother." Utau smiled at him and Kukai laughed. They kissed one more time before they got up and walked out of the park, hand in hand.

Ikuto was bored. He was very, very bored. Amu and Midori had left because the bachelor party and he and his dad were waiting for guests. This was going to be a _clean _party. No strippers. Just a bunch of guys, dancing, possibly some gambling, etc. Ikuto wished Amu was there. He had gotten so used to her that it felt strange being away from her.

And he hadn't kissed her for a very long time.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Aruto called from somewhere inside the house.

The guests started arriving and soon the living room was full of men and boys. Ikuto talked with Nagi and Kairi by a table of food that they had set out. The few little kids that were brought played in a different room with a male baby sitter.

The doorbell rang again and Ikuto went to answer it. Ikuto's eye brows raised when he saw Kukai and four older guys. They all looked different, but Ikuto had seen them in some of Amu's photos. They were Kukai's older brothers.

"Hi, Ikuto-san!" Kukai said with a smile. He walked in, followed by the older brothers. He turned and smiled at him. "These are my older brothers, by the way, Kaidou, Shuusui, Unkai, and Rento. Guys, this is Tsukiyomi Aruto-san's son, Ikuto-san."

"What's up?" the blond one, Unkai said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Rento greeted him, giving his hand a shake.

Kaidou nodded towards him.

"It's nice to finally meet Amu-san's almost step-brother," the one with the glasses, Shuusui responded. He looked around. "This is a nice place you have here, Ikuto-san."

"Thanks," Ikuto responded.

"Kukai," Kaidou started. "We're not staying here too long."

"Okay, Kaidou," Kukai said with a nervous smile. He then left with Ikuto towards Kairi and Nagi.

"Hi guys!" Kukai greeted them with a wide smile.

"Hey, Kukai," Nagi said with a smile.

"Hello, Kukai," Kairi said. Kairi and Nagi looked at each other and then turned back to Kukai. Nagi smiled innocently while Kairi was expressionless. They then each grabbed one of his arms and led him out of the living room and to an empty guest room.

"G-guys-!" Kukai exclaimed. Ikuto followed them and locked the door behind them.

"Don't worry about it, Kukai. They're just doing a normal procedure. It should be over soon," Ikuto said, leaning against the closed door.

Nagi and Kairi pushed Kukai into an empty seat and leaned close to him.

"So, we hear you're dating Utau now, right?" Nagi said with an innocent smile.

Kukai relaxed and smiled. "Oh, is that what this is about? Yeah, I'm dating Utau."

Kairi adjusted his glasses. "Interesting, Nagihiko. The boy calls her, _Utau."_

"Well—" Kukai started, but Nagi cut him off.

"We also know how you almost broke her heart," Nagi said with another innocent smile, which made him looked especially mischievous. "Ikuto told us."

"That was a misunderstanding-!"

Nagi put a finger on Kukai's lips. "We know."

Kukai breathed. "I fixed it, seriously! Rebecca-chan isn't in my life anymore! I don't even like her as a friend!"

"Calm down, Kukai, you're being irrational. We are only questioning how well of a boyfriend you'd be to Utau," Kairi said.

Kukai's face turned red. "How well of a—"

Suddenly, Kukai's phone rang in his pocket. Kukai smiled in relief and quickly answered it.

"Hello?" he said into the phone. He smiled wider, his cheeks slightly red. "No, no, it's okay…." He laughed. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine, but do they do that often?" Kukai paused as he listened to the person on the other line. He laughed again. "You don't have to do that, it's okay! It's nice to see how much they care for you." He looked at them and smiled. "Sure, I'd love that. I'll text you later, okay… Okay, bye!" He closed the phone and slid it back in his pocket.

"I'm guessing that was Utau?" Kairi said.

Kukai smiled. "Yeah! She must've known you guys would've done something like this tonight!"

"I told you this was normal procedure. You've done the best out of the others."

Kukai's smile vanished slightly. "Um, how many… others, were there?"

Kairi sighed. "You seriously expect us to know how many people she's dated?"

Nagi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Kukai. She's never been in love before, until she met you."

Kukai smiled at him. "Thanks." Suddenly, Kukai jumped out of his seat. "The weddings tomorrow, isn't it?!"

They all stared at him. Ikuto sighed. "You're just realizing it?"

"Wow…," Kukai said, oblivious to Ikuto's comment. "How that happen so fast?"

A sudden pain of realization hit Ikuto full in the chest. The wedding was _the next day. _In less that twenty-four hours. It was so obvious… and yet…

Ikuto looked down. _Amu…, _he thought.

Nagi and Kairi noticed the change in Ikuto's mood. Nagi went over to him and put his arm around his shoulder. "Come on. Let's go back to the party."

Ikuto looked at his friend who was smiling at him. Of course they had figured what was going on between him and Amu. They weren't stupid… most of the time… It seemed like Amu was just starting to open up to him, and…

Ikuto sighed again and nodded. "Yeah… We should… head back to the party…"

After the party was over, the doorbell rang and Ikuto ran towards the door. He opened it to see Midori and Amu both looking really tired.

Aruto went over to them and took Midori's hand. "Hello, Honey. Did you two have a fun night?"

Midori yawned. "Oh, yes… Didn't we, Amu?"

Amu nodded sleepily. Ikuto was going to die. She was so freaking cute when she was drowsy. "Mom? I'm going to go to bed," she said with a yawn.

"Okay, Dear."

Amu headed up the stairs and Ikuto followed. Amu went into her room and flopped on the bed, completely bushed. She hadn't even bothered to change her clothes. Or brush her teeth. Or get under the covers.

Ikuto sat on her bed and watched her.

She then turned and her eyes opened slightly to see him. "What… are you… doing here… Iku…to?" she asked drowsily, yawning in mid-sentence.

Ikuto smiled at her and laid down next to her on the bed. He wasn't going to try anything. He was better than that. He just wanted to be with her, knowing that this would be their last night… 'together.' He pulled the covers over them and put his arm around her. He watched her fall asleep.

Ikuto smiled sadly at her and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Amu… I… love you."

She didn't respond. She was already in a deep sleep. Although, she did have a smile on her face.

When Amu woke up, she saw Ikuto lying down next to her. In her bed. Amu blushed violently as she saw him there. He was still asleep and looked very, very cute. Amu was about to turn and look at her clock when she realized his arm was around her, keeping her close to him. Amu blushed harder but smiled. She closed her eyes and snuggled up close to him.

She couldn't deny how she felt about him. She loved—Amu's eyes widened. _The wedding! _She frowned and pressed her face against his warm chest. She wanted to stay like that, because she knew… that that day, they would become step-siblings… and that meant… Amu squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. She had _known _something like that was going to happen. She would fall _deeper _in love with him and she wouldn't be able to bear not being with him. She moved her arm and placed her hand on his chest and moved closer. Dammit. She _loved _Ikuto. And… she wasn't going to be able to be with him anymore.

She felt tears in her eyes and she let them fall. She then felt a hand on her face. She looked up to see Ikuto looking back down at her.

"Don't cry," he said with a pained smile. "Don't cry." He wiped her tears gently and Amu bit her lip.

"Ikuto… today is—"

"I know. I know." He wrapped his other arm around her and held her close. "It… doesn't _have _to end, you know…"

Amu bit her lip harder. _She knew. _"Ikuto, please don't say that. It _does." _More tears started to flow down her face, but Ikuto would gently wipe them away.

He leaned down and gently kissed her lips. It wasn't passionate and they each knew they weren't going to make it passionate. Just… sweet. Amu kissed back and tried to hold back her remaining kiss. She knew that that kiss was her last with him.

They broke the kiss and looked at each other.

"Amu, I love you," Ikuto said softly, pressing his forehead to hers.

Amu shut her eyes. "Ikuto, I—" She sighed. "I love you, too." They held each other for a while in silence until they decided they better head downstairs.

It _was_ the big day.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they saw everybody rushing around the house, getting everything in order.

Mrs. Franklin rushed towards them with a long pink flowing dress in her arms. She stopped in front of Amu and scowled at her. "Well _finally _you're up! Here's the dress and—" She looked at Ikuto in surprise. "What are _you_ still doing here? The men are changing in the guest house! Get out!" She pushed Ikuto away from Amu and out the door. She turned back to Amu and gave her the dress. "Amu-san, the women are in Hinamori-san's bedroom. Hurry now!"

Amu took the dress and headed towards her mother's bedroom, which must've been the largest bedroom ever invented.

Amu saw her mother getting dressed and some of her friends and family helping her with it. There were also her aunts and Macy and Jin who were getting dressed in their bridesmaid's dresses.

"Hi, Sweetie!" her mom said, as her hair was being done. "Did you have a nice sleep?"

Amu gave her a small smile. "Yeah, Mom, I slept well."

"We had fun last night, didn't we Honey? That movie we saw was wonderful, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was fun." Amu smiled at her mother and walked over to her and kissed her cheek.

Midori smiled widely at her daughter, and was then snapped at by the woman who was doing her hair for moving her head.

Amu went back across the room and quickly changed into her dress. She started working on her make-up and was trying to decide how she'd wear her hair, when Macy came over.

"Hey, Honey! It's the big day, can you believe it?" Macy said with a smile.

"Yeah, it happened fast, didn't it?" Amu responded, trying her best to hide the sadness. Macy didn't seem to notice.

"Sweetie? I can do your hair if you want me to," Macy offered.

Amu smiled at her. "Thank you, I'd like that a lot."

"Oh, goodie!" Macy exclaimed with glee. She started working on Amu's hair. "I haven't done some one's hair since my niece came and visited me! Would you like it up, or maybe—"

"You can choose."

"Okay, then!"

Macy worked on Amu's hair for a while longer before she finally announced it finished. Amu looked at herself in the mirror and was slightly surprised.

Her hair was now silky smooth and curled at the bottom. Her hair flowed over her shoulders, although part of it was put up and complimented with a peach colored flower that went beautifully with the dress and Amu's hair.

Amu stood up and gave Macy a hug. "Thank you."

"No problem, Honey. Now let's check on your mama," Macy said with a wink. They went over to Midori who was standing in front of a long, full length mirror.

"Oh… Midori," Aika said with a smile. "You look beautiful!"

Midori turned around and faced everyone. Amu understood how her aunt felt. Her mom did look very beautiful. She wasn't wearing her glasses, since she had bought contacts, and she wore mascara, capturing the beauty of her eyes. Her brown hair flowed down her back, covered by the sparkling white veil. The dress was sleeveless with lace gloves. Her mom wore a diamond necklace and matching diamond earrings. Her lips were coated with a light red lipstick that was covered in gloss. Pink blush was brushed onto her cheeks. She looked stunning.

"Mom, you look amazing," Amu said with a smile, giving her mom a hug.

Midori smiled at her daughter. "Oh, Amu, Dear. You don't know how much it means to hear you say that. And to see you so happy.

Suddenly Mrs. Franklin came bursting in. She wore a red velvet dress with a large black flower. Her hair was put up and she wore black gloves. "Sorry to disturb you, Hinamori-san, but it's time." Midori breathed and squeezed her daughter's hand.

Amu smiled at her mom. "You're going to do great, Mom," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, Sweetie," Midori whispered, kissing her daughter's forehead.

Then they walked outside to where all the guests had arrived.

Amu looked towards Ikuto who walked over to her with a smile. They linked arms, like they had rehearsed.

"You know…," he whispered to her. "You look absolutely beautiful…"

She looked at him and smiled. A light blush on her face. "Thank you."

The music started to play and Amu watched Ran and Su walk down the aisle throwing flowers into the air from their baskets. Following them was Hikaru, who carried the rings on top of a velvet pillow.

"Shall we?" Ikuto said to her with a smile.

"We shall," Amu responded. They led the bridesmaids and groomsmen down the aisle. Amu noticed familiar faces in the audience. She saw Ikuto's friends, and Yaya, Rima, and Kukai.

They then broke their linked arms to go and stand on either sides of the alter. The other bridesmaids and groomsmen followed. Amu looked around and saw Aruto standing on the alter with a big smile on his face. She saw her grandma in a front seat, and she saw Kukai keep on glancing to the other side of the aisle where Utau sat with her mom. Amu smiled. It was cute how Kukai had found somebody. Amu looked back at the aisle where her grandpa was leading her mom down the aisle. Her mom… never looked so happy.

They reached the alter and her grandpa slowly kissed her mom on the forehead and then handed her over to Aruto, who took her hand lovingly. The priest began to speak and Amu's eyes glanced towards Ikuto. He was staring right back at her. Amu felt a slight blush on her cheeks. Ikuto smiled as their eyes locked.

_ I. Love. You, _he mouthed to her, slowly and carefully so she'd understand.

Amu smiled and blushed. _I love you too, _she mouthed back. He smiled at her and gave her big thumbs up. It took all she had not to burst out laughing.

They kept looking at each other and smiling as their parents said their 'I dos' and Hikaru gave them the rings.

"I pronounce you man and wife," the priest declared. "You may now kiss the bride."

Aruto and Midori leaned in towards each other and kissed each other lovingly. Everyone applauded and cheered.

And then it was over. People came up to the newlyweds and congratulated them and everyone started mingling. Then, Aruto and Midori headed back into the house and when they came back out, they were wearing casual clothing (okay, maybe _a little _fancy) and each had a suitcase in their hands. They headed towards the car as everyone continued to cheer.

They packed the car and Amu and Ikuto went up to them and hugged them goodbye. Amu had totally forgotten about the honeymoon…

"Now, we'll be gone for a couple of weeks on our honeymoon, children. You'll behave, correct?" Aruto said, smiling at them.

"Of course, Dad, you know me," Ikuto said with a smirk.

"I _do _know you so that's why I'm reminding you." Aruto gave his son a hug and then his new step-daughter a hug as well. Midori gave Ikuto and Amu hugs and smiled at them, her eyes slightly teary.

"Oh, I know everything will be all right!" she said giving them another hug. "And remember, Sweethearts, you can always call us if there's any trouble!"

They went inside the car.

"And Ikuto," Aruto said, smiling. "Whatever you're planning on doing, don't."

Midori laughed and Ikuto gave his dad a smile.

"Bye Mom! And, um, Dad!" Amu said slightly awkwardly.

"Bye parents," Ikuto said.

The other guests called out their good byes or ran in for last minute hugs before Aruto and Midori left for their honeymoon.

After a while, all the guests were gone, leaving Ikuto and Amu… alone… for a whole two weeks.

(A/N: So there you go, Aruto and Midori are finally married. Hmm… what will happen in chapter 11?)


	11. Chapter 11

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 11

Ikuto and Amu headed back into the house. They had finally finished cleaning up, with the help from Mrs. Franklin who was just leaving.

Ikuto looked at Amu, who was about to head upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes before he grabbed her hand and spun her towards him.

"Ikuto!" she exclaimed in surprise.

He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her waist like he'd done so many times. "Hello," he said with a smile.

She looked away from him. "Ikuto… we're… related now…"

He embraced her, pushing her head against his chest. "Okay… So?" Ikuto knew what was coming and he didn't want it to happen again.

"Ikuto… you know…"

"Yes, but I'm in love with you, Amu. Step-sister or not!" He looked deep into her eyes. He tried to calm himself once again. He leaned in towards her, but she turned her head away.

"Ikuto, stop. Just stop. You're my step-brother now. We already talked about this, and you agreed that we would stop whatever was between us after the wedding."

Ikuto looked at her. A mix of emotions ran through him. He wanted to yell at her for trying to keep them apart, but he knew that she loved him as well, and from the beginning she knew that something like this would happen. He felt guilty, for making her fall in love him more, but he couldn't help himself. He needed her. Maybe if he had just stayed away from her… But, he couldn't have. He loved her…

"But… I forgot about the honeymoon. Our parents won't be back for a couple of weeks. Can we stop then?" Ikuto suggested. He just wanted… a little more time with her…

Amu looked down. "But we're step-sib—" She was cut off when Ikuto crashed his lips against hers. Amu's eyes were wide for a moment, but then she slowly kissed back. He smirked as he made the kiss more passionate. When he felt her kissing back like that, he knew how much she really loved him. His hands were on her hips, pushing them against him so she could be even closer.

Her hands wrapped around his neck. Without breaking the kiss, he led her to the couch and pushed her down on it. He started making the kiss rougher and he slid his hand down her figure, stopping on her hips.

"Mmm… I-Ikuto…," Amu moaned.

"Amu…," Ikuto groaned as he kissed her.

Her fingers ran through his midnight blue hair. He hadn't thought they this would happen since it was after the wedding, but he was sure glad it was.

"Ikuto…," Amu whispered. "This isn't right…"

Ikuto continued to kiss her. "Amu, you know this _is _right…"

"Ikuto, I d-don't think—"

"Shh, Amu… Don't talk…"

Suddenly they heard the door open. Ikuto scowled and got off of Amu. Amu was bright red.

"Ikuto!" a voice said from the doorway. Ikuto and Amu looked to see Yoru standing there with a big grin on his face, holding the hand of a teenage girl with short blue hair, a short dark blue dress with black leggings and a black belt. "Hey guys!"

"Yoru…," Ikuto growled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, I was sort of preoccupied during the mingling and didn't get a chance to meet up with you or Amu-san!" He walked over to them, and the girl followed.

"Hi, Yoru-san," Amu greeted him with a small smile.

"Amu-san, this is my girlfriend Miki! Miki, this is Ikuto's step-sister, Hinamori Amu!" Yoru introduced them. Amu smiled at the girl and the girl smiled back.

"It's nice meeting you, Amu-san. Congrats on your mom's marriage," Miki said, shaking her hand.

"Thank you, it's nice meeting you too," Amu said with a smile.

Ikuto wasn't happy seeing either of them. "Great, you met. Now get out."

"Aw, Ikuto! Why are you so cold?" Yoru complained. He then noticed how close they were sitting on the couch, and Amu's bright red face. He snickered. "_Oh, _I get it, now!" Then he paused and frowned. "Ikuto! She's your step-sister!"

"Shut up, Yoru," Ikuto said through gritted teeth.

Miki seemed to understand everything. She couldn't help but smile. "Come on, Yoru, they want some alone time."

He followed her out the door while complaining, "But Miki, they'll be alone for a whole two weeks!"

They heard the door close.

"Miki-san seems nice," Amu said, casually scooting away from him. Ikuto noticed this and frowned.

"Yeah, she's cool," he said. He moved closer to her. She looked away from him and moved to the edge of the couch. Ikuto started feeling a mixture of anger and hurt. _Stop Amu, _he wanted to say. _Stop moving away from me! I love you… _Ikuto closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her, but she stood up quickly, moving away from him. "Amu, what are you… doing?"

"God, Ikuto! I CAN'T DO THIS, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" she screamed, tears in her eyes. "YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO JUST DO EVERYTHING YOUR WAY!" She gritted her teeth and dropped her head. "You said until the wedding. I didn't even want to _that! _You can't keep delaying it, Ikuto! I _can't _be with you, don't you understand? Our parents are married, okay? You can't expect this relationship to work!"

Ikuto glared at her. "It could work, Amu, if you weren't so fucking stubborn!" He was angry now. "Dammit, we both _love _each other! We fucking love each other! Why are you being so difficult, Amu?! Why can't you just give into your feelings?! So what, we're step-sibling. And?!"

"You just don't understand," Amu said, shaking her head.

"No," Ikuto said coolly, scowling at her. He walked towards the doorway. Before he left he turned back to her. "You're just being a bitch."

He slammed the door behind him and left the house.

Amu couldn't believe he had said that to her. But… she didn't blame him one bit. She crumpled to the floor and started to sob into her hands. "Oh, God. _Oh, God!" _she cried. What had she _done? _

Ikuto was fuming. He drove at a hundred miles per hour down the long deserted road. Why was she being so _difficult? _He was so upset and he didn't know how exactly he had gotten so pissed.

He was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. He was scowling at the road as his foot pressed against the accelerator. "Dammit, Amu… Dammit!" He gritted his teeth. He pounded the steering wheel in anger. "Dammit!"

He turned the steering wheel hard and make a hard veer to the right. He stopped the car in the middle of an old abandoned parking lot. He leaned back in his chair and squeezed his eyes shut. This had never happened before. One girl never before in his life had made him feel so much, positive or negative.

Was he angry at her? Yes. Was he angry at himself? Of course. Was he still in love with Amu? Ikuto scowled. He was crazy in love for her. Saying he was just 'in love' was an understatement. He would do anything for her, he'd do whatever he could to make her happy… But he lost control of his temper… He had called her a bitch. Before he left, he saw her from out of the window. He saw sob. He saw her crumple to the floor. And what did he do about it? Nothing.

Maybe it would've been better if he had never even met her. If Aruto hadn't decided to go on a museum tour, where he met Midori, who was taking the same tour. That's where they hooked up.

If they never met, he and Amu probably would never meet. But then… he'd never feel all that love that he felt for her… but at the same time, he would never feel all the pain that he was feeling at that moment.

"Why… can't she see how much I love her?" he whispered to himself. "Why is she doing this to me?"

He pressed the radio on.

L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole started playing. Ikuto looked at the radio.

Why? Why the song that he and Amu had sung together to.

He was going to turn off but decided against it and closed his eyes.

He started remembering events that happened between him and Amu. When he found her in his room… when he asked if Kukai was her boyfriend… He remembered when they danced to Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley and when he first kissed her in front of the sunrise. How good that kiss was… And how better the next kiss at the beach was. Her smile kept appearing in his mind. That beautiful smile… How she held onto him in the movie theatre, even know she didn't know it was him… How beautiful she looked every day and how she made his heart race. How she made him wake up with a smile in the morning because he'd be able to see her again. To hold her. To kiss her. She was his… she just wouldn't…

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

He decided to ignore it. But then it vibrated again. He groaned and answered it.

"What?!" he demanded.

_"Ikuto-san?" _

Ikuto groaned again. It was Kukai. "What do you want, Kukai? I'm not exactly in the mood."

_"Sorry, I'll make this quick. Listen, um… Amu's at my house,"_ Kukai said on the other line.

Ikuto's eyes widened. "What?!"

_"Listen, calm down… she seemed upset over the phone and asked if she could come over. Utau's here too… She wouldn't tell us what happened… Did you… do something to her?" _

Ikuto looked down. "We had a fight."

_"Well, I think you should come and get her. You're the only one who can fix this." _

"What? What do you mean? I'm probably the last person she wants to see," he muttered. "She…" Ikuto closed his eyes. "She probably would rather stay with you instead of me."

_"Ikuto-san, she's upset, but I can tell she's not just upset with you, but with herself. I've known Amu for a very long time and I know whatever happened between you two is something only you two can fix. The person she needs the most right now, is you. Come and pick her up, okay?" _

"So you're planning on being a shrink, right?" Ikuto asked bluntly.

Kukai laughed. _"No, but I've been told I'm excellent at advice!" _

"Don't get too full of yourself, Kukai." Kukai laughed again on the other line. Ikuto sighed. "Fine… I'll… pick her up…"

_"Good! See you soon!"_ Kukai ended the call.

Ikuto closed the phone and put it in his pocket. He started the car again and drove out of the parking lot, and then he headed towards Kukai's house.

When he reached it, he hesitantly parked in the driveway and walked slowly up to the stoop. He paused before ringing the doorbell.

The door opened. It was Kukai's eldest brother, Kaidou.

"What do _you_ want?" he asked coolly.

"I'm here for Amu."

"Didn't you cause this whole mess, kid?" He glared at Ikuto.

Ikuto looked down. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Kaidou!" he heard Kukai say from inside. Kukai ran up to the door and smiled at Ikuto. "Sorry, Ikuto-san. Come on in!"

Kaidou grunted before allowing Ikuto to enter the house. Ikuto followed Kukai to the living room. He saw Amu lying down on the couch, Utau sitting in a seat across from her. A blanket covered Amu's body, leaving only her head and upper body visible. That's when he noticed that she was asleep.

"Ikuto," Utau said, standing up from her seat.

"Utau…," Ikuto whispered. "Has she been asleep long?"

Kukai nodded. "She fell asleep while I was calling you. Do you need any help getting her into the car?"

Ikuto looked at her sleeping figure. She finally looked… peaceful again.

He gently picked her up, bridal style. "No," he answered. He walked towards the door and Kukai opened it for him. Before Ikuto left, he turned back towards Kukai. "Kukai… Thank you."

Kukai smiled at him. "No problem! And, Ikuto-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Take care of her, okay? She really does need you."

Ikuto looked at Amu's sleeping face. "Of course I will. I need her, too."

Ikuto walked out the door with a sleeping Amu in his arms and walked towards the car. He then opened the door carefully and gently put Amu in. He buckled her in before closing the car door. He went into the car himself and started the engine. He pulled out of Kukai's driveway and drove back to the Tsukiyomi house.

Kukai watched them leave with a frown on his face. Utau wrapped her arms around him.

"Are you worried?" she asked.

He sighed. "A little, I guess. I just… I mean I've seen her cry before, but never like this… She looked like she was in total pain…"

"I know… it's hard, their situation. They love each other, but their step-siblings."

Kukai wrapped his arm around her waist. "She wouldn't even tell me what happened, Utau." He looked at the ground. "She always tells me what happened…"

Utau turned him so that he was facing her. "Kukai, some things are just too hard to say. Especially after it just happened. Don't worry about it, okay? You need to give her some time. It's difficult what they're going through."

Kukai smiled at her. "You know what? I think I'm having an influence on you!"

Utau raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He laughed. "You're talking shrink talk!"

Utau blushed. "S-shut up, idiot…"

Kukai kissed her on the lips and looked at her surprised expression and laughed. "I love you, Utau!"

She blushed and grabbed his hand and led him inside. She didn't want him to see the blush… and the large smile.

Ikuto had Amu in his arms. He walked up the stairs and laid her on her bed. He covered her up and smiled at her sadly. He kissed her lips gently and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He walked slowly towards his room and flopped on the bed. He knew what he had to do. No matter how much he loved her, he'd have to respect her wishes. He wouldn't exactly stay away from her… but he'd treat her like a sister… nothing more. Ikuto sighed. If only she knew… how much of a sacrifice he was making. But… she was worth it. He needed her to be happy around him.

And he had to apologize for calling her a bitch.

(A/N: So Amu and Ikuto had a very big fight but do not fear! Another chapter is on its way!)


	12. Chapter 12

(A/N: Hello! I don't own Shugo Chara. Please review! Enjoy!)

Chapter 12

Ikuto woke up and stretched. He shook the sleep out of his head and then sat on the edge of his bed. He sighed. He then stood up and realized Amu standing in his doorway. His eyes widened. She was wearing her bikini under a tank top and shorts. She held a beach towel in her arms.

"Amu?" he said.

"Let's go to the beach."

Ikuto raised his eye brow at her. "What?"

"It's a nice day," she said simply. "I think we should go to the beach. Unless… you don't want to go…"

Ikuto blinked. "No… I want to go… but… it just took me by surprise."

Amu shrugged. "I'll wait in the car." She turned and was about to walk away when she stopped and sighed. She turned back to him. "Ikuto… thank you."

That took him by surprise even more than the beach idea. "Excuse me?"

She blushed and dropped her head. "Thank you… for bringing me back here… and… I'm… sorry… that it can't work out between us…"

Ikuto looked at her. He wanted to say, 'But it can, Amu!' but he knew it was no use. He sighed and smiled. "Amu… don't worry about it, okay? I… It's hard for me to understand but I'm going to try. I want to respect your wishes and for you to be happy… I'm going to treat you like a sister, and nothing more." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry—" she started.

He smiled at her. "It's over now. Let's go to the beach… sis."

She hesitated before nodding and turned and walked away. Ikuto sighed as she left. He then frowned as he dressed into his swimsuit. They were going to the beach… and Amu was going to wear a _very _hot bikini…

They drove in an awkward silence to the beach. Amu looked out the window and sighed. Ikuto surprised himself by only watching the street.

He punched the radio on but he couldn't focus on the lyrics.

Tsukiyomi Ikuto felt very awkward. And that was not a feeling he was familiar with.

They got to the beach after what seemed like a very, very long time and they took their things and headed for the sand. The beach was much more crowded and so was the board walk. What made it worse was that Ikuto kept seeing couples all around him.

He followed Amu onto the sand until she picked a spot. They laid out their towels and Ikuto sat down on his.

When he looked up he had to hold back a whimper.

Amu had stripped off her tank top and shorts to reveal a bright pink bikini. It was different than the one from the pool, and for some reason, seeing her like that made him even more….

Amu blushed when she saw him stare. "Ikuto…"

He quickly looked away and put on his sun glasses.

She then lay on her back on her towel beside his and started to sun bathe. She closed her eyes as she relaxed and soaked up some vitamin D.

Ikuto sat up and looked around the beach. He noticed some girls who sat near them giggle and wave his way but he rolled his eyes and ignored him. What _did _catch his attention was what he had dreaded most. A group of shirtless guys, that were probably in their early twenties, passed by them and were smirking and nodding towards Amu.

Ikuto tried to keep his breathing steady. And of course, trying to keep himself from jumping up and punching all those pretty boys in their pretty little faces.

"Ikuto? I'm going to go swim," she said, standing up and wiping herself her. Ikuto noticed that the group of guys were still hanging around a few yards away. Ikuto gritted his teeth. They were _waiting _for her…

He then smiled. "Amu, wait. You need sunscreen." He waved the bottle of sunscreen at her.

She blushed slightly, but then nodded in agreement. She took the sunscreen from him and started rubbing the substance into her skin. Ikuto was waiting… waiting for the question….

"Ikuto?" Amu said, giving him the bottle. "Can you do my back?"

"Of course, Amu," Ikuto said. He smirked at the group of guys as he started rubbing in the sunscreen into her skin. As he rubbed in the sunscreen, he started massaging her back, causing her to subconsciously moan and smile widely. He hoped he would make a sign to the guys. This is _his girl. _

He frowned. He shouldn't be thinking that. They had already decided… about brother and sister and everything… but… it was fine for a brother to be protective of his sister, right?

"Ikuto… what are you doing…?" Amu said in surprising bliss.

"Rubbing in your sunscreen, Amu. You know, I think I'll go swimming with you."

"Okay."

"But, Amu, could you help me with my sunscreen?"

"Okay." Ikuto stripped off his shirt and handed her the sunscreen bottle. He glanced over at the guys and smirked at them. Their smiles had vanished, but they were stilling waiting for some reason. Well he was going to give them a great show.

She started rubbing his back with the sunscreen and he gave the men, even the girls if necessary, a wide smile of pleasure. He was slowly making his mark. Then it was time for the killer. He plunged his hands in the sand and then smiled at Amu as she finished his back.

"Amu, can you do my chest?" Ikuto asked innocently.

She blushed and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh come on, Amu." Ikuto raised his eyes to show her that they were all sandy. "I don't want to get sand all over me. Especially because it would stick longer because of the sunscreen. Plus, we're siblings now. There shouldn't be anything weird between us."

She hesitated before nodding and started lathering his chest, although a thick blush stayed on her cheeks and her hands trembled shyly, but Ikuto didn't mind at all.

When they were finished, they stood up and walked towards the ocean. Ikuto let her lead so that she wouldn't notice him standing very close to her.

He reminded himself that he was just being a protective brother, nothing more. Everything was fine. It was perfectly normal for older brothers to be protective of their younger sisters, especially when other guys were involved.

Right?

Amu suddenly laughed and Ikuto looked at her.

"The water's so cold!" she cried out with joy. He smiled at her.

She laughed again and grabbed his hand and pulled him in. He felt a large chill wash over him. That water was _really _cold.

"Come on," she said with a smile. "You'll get used to it!"

Ikuto smiled sarcastically and nodded. "Sure. Used to it."

They started swimming for a while and riding on waves, actually having a good time. For a while Ikuto forgot all about the step-sibling thing.

After about an hour or so of swimming, they walked back in to their spot and dried off.

"Do you want to walk along the board walk?" he asked her.

"Sure," she said. She grabbed her tank top and put it back on. She then slipped on her shorts and buttoned it. "Let's go."

They walked together past shops and small restaurants, walking into a few stores every once in a while.

They walked into one store that sold summer dresses and jewelry. Amu seemed interested in a pink and light blue spaghetti strap dress.

"You want that?" Ikuto asked, looking over her shoulder at the dress.

Amu shrugged. "I don't know." She checked the price tag. It was surprisingly a reasonable price for a dress. Or at least, what dresses _should _cost. "Yeah, I think I'll get it."

Images of Amu in that dress flooded his mind and he nodded in agreement.

Amu handed him a few bills. "Would you mind purchasing it? I'm going to just browse around a little more."

"Sure," he said. He took the money and then walked over to the cash register. He smiled as he pushed the money into his pocket and took out his own wallet. If he let her pay, what kind of man would he be? He'd just casually push her money back into her bag when he got the chance.

He bought the dress and then turned to look for Amu in the store.

He found her by the entrance to the shop and was about to walk towards her. When he noticed a guy standing in front of her. Ikuto realized the guy was speaking with a wide grin on his face and Amu was smiling and blushing. Ikuto clenched his fists and walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Hello, Amu. Got your _dress _for you," he said with a smile while narrowing his eyes at the guy. The guy looked younger than him, but a year or two older than Amu. He wore only swim trunks and had a ripped body. He had short light brown hair and amber eyes. Amu's smile had vanished and she was staring at the ground, a blush still deep on her face.

"Oh, dude? Who are you?" the guy asked.

"Her boyfr—" Ikuto stopped himself. He was just a… protective brother. Not her boyfriend. But the only way this guy would back off would be if…

"My step-brother, Chad-san," Amu answered. Damn her.

The guy seemed to relax and he smiled. "Oh, that's cool."

"Yeah, it's cool, 'Chad,'" Ikuto said with a smile. "Now if you excuse us—"

"Hey, I'm going to catch lunch with some of my friends," the guy, Chad, said. "Want to join us?"

Before Amu could answer, Ikuto answered for her. "Sorry, Chad, but me and my… _sister_ are having some sibling bonding time here at the beach. So, bye, bye."

Ikuto, without taking his arm off of Amu, lead Amu past Chad and into a random restaurant for lunch. When they got inside, Ikuto took his arm off of her.

Amu glared at him. "What the hell was that about?"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Dammit, Ikuto, what's wrong with you?" she hissed.

"Me? Really?" Ikuto shook his head. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Amu stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Amu. Are you _seriously _telling me that that guy wasn't _flirting _with that you just now?"

Amu rolled her eyes. "So what if he was? What is it to you? Ikuto, we're not together! You shouldn't even care! You're supposed to treat me like a sister!"

"Well guess what?" Ikuto tried to control his temper. "I _do _care."

"Hello, table for two?" Amu looked away and turned towards the hostess.

"Yes, thank you," Amu said softly.

"Follow me," the hostess said with a smile. She led them towards a table in the back. A tall young man went over to the table and handed them menus.

"Hi," he said, smiling at Amu. Ikuto sighed. Was every good looking guy at the beach after his girl? No, sorry… his… sister… At least this one was wearing a shirt. "I'm Kaoru. I'll be your waiter today. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"Water," Ikuto said.

"Mm hmm," Kaoru said quickly, not looking at him. "And for you, Miss?"

"Um…" Amu stared at the drinks options on the menu. "Iced tea, please."

"Of course," the waiter said with a smile. He winked at her and then headed back to the kitchen.

Ikuto gritted his teeth as he looked over the menu. He decided that he hated the beach.

"I'm thinking of getting the fried fish. You?"

"I'll get the same."

Amu sighed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Amu," Ikuto said with a smile. They didn't have to wait long until the waiter came back.

"So, Sweetheart. Ready to order?" he asked with smile.

"Yeah," Ikuto said sourly. "We'll have two fried fishes with a side of rice."

"Anything else?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of her.

Ikuto decided he was downright tired of this guy and kicked him hard in the shin from under the table.

Kaoru yelped in pain and Amu looked at him surprised.

That was when Kaoru actually looked at Ikuto in bewilderment.

"Nothing else, thanks," Ikuto said with an innocent smile. "Oh, but make it to go, okay? We would rather eat on the beach."

"We would?" Amu asked, baffled.

"Yes, we would. Go, now, _Kaoru." _Ikuto said smiling.

Kaoru left, looking very disappointed and Ikuto smiled happily at that.

"Ikuto? What happened? Why'd he yell like that?"

Ikuto shrugged. "Maybe he stubbed his toe?"

Amu left the topic and Kaoru came back with two take out boxes. Ikuto paid for the food, grabbed the boxes and took Amu's hand and left, living a tip on the table.

After they left, Kaoru muttered curses under his breath. If those two were in a relationship, the blue haired dude could have just said so instead of kicking him and making look like an idiot in front of a hottie like her.

And he didn't even leave a tip! Kaoru began wiping the table and noticed a white piece of paper.

He picked it up and his eyes widened.

It read, 'Here's a little tip for you. Flirt with MY girl again and you'll be beaten into a pulp and I doubt any girl will look at you twice.'

Kaoru decided not to flirt with that pink haired girl any more.


	13. Chapter 13

(A/N: I do not own Shugo Chara whatsoever. Please review!)

Chapter 13

"Ikuto! Amu!" Midori sang as she ran into the house and held onto her children.

"Hi, Mom!" Amu said, embracing her mother.

Aruto walked in behind them with their suitcases. "Hello, children. We've missed you two so much!" He hugged Amu and Ikuto and then the two parents walked went inside, back from their honey moon.

"Did you have fun?" Amu asked them with a smile.

"Oh, it was just wonderful, Amu!" Midori said, holding Aruto's hand.

"And you, Aruto-san?" Amu asked.

"Please, Amu. We're family now. Call me 'Dad,'" Aruto said smiling.

"O-okay, Dad. Did you have fun?"

"It was one of the best moments of my life," Aruto responded. Midori smiled at him and blushed. Then they leaned into kiss each other, and Amu quickly looked away. That was a sight that was just a little too awkward to see. She glanced at Ikuto who seemed to be doing the same.

"So, kids. What have you two been up to?" Aruto asked.

Ikuto and Amu looked at each other.

"Uh, not much. We went to the beach a couple days ago," Amu answered.

Besides that, things have been mostly awkward between the two. No, _especially _after the beach trip things had been very awkward between the two. So Amu hung out with Yaya and Rima and Ikuto hung out with Nagi and Kairi. For some strange reason, Utau and Kukai said they were both _very _busy and couldn't hang out with their friends…. Strange. Amu shrugged. She was happy he had found someone and Utau seemed like a good match for him.

They left their parents to unpack and walked into the kitchen.

"Want a snack?" asked Ikuto.

"Sure," Amu responded. Ikuto took out a bag of Fritos and handed it to her. She took a handful. "Thanks." She started eating the snack and Ikuto grabbed a handful as well and placed the bag on the table.

Amu started remembering the day at the beach. It was obvious that Ikuto didn't like other guys flirting with her, which made her torn. On the one hand, she thought it was really sweet. On the other, it showed he had feelings for her. Not brother sister feelings. Which was a problem. But she couldn't totally blame Amu.

She couldn't help but notice how almost every girl at the beach would smile in Ikuto's direction or giggle. She even overheard a couple of girls talking about 'the really hot blue haired guy!' at the store where she bought that dress. She couldn't help but feel upset with that, but fortunately he hadn't noticed. And of course, he hadn't noticed the girls that were interested in him.

Amu sighed.

She hated her predicament.

"I'm going over to Rima's today," Amu said, wiping her hands on her jeans before standing up.

"Amu, you're not avoiding me, are you?" Ikuto asked, his eyebrow raised.

She smiled at him. "No, Ikuto."

"Well, give me a… hug to prove it," he said.

She walked over to him and embraced him. Her wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder.

When he let go, Amu still held him.

He laughed softly. "Amu. Amu."

She realized and blushed slightly. "Sorry. Anyway, I just need to, uh, clear my head, you know?"

Ikuto nodded in understanding. "Need me to drive you there?"

"Yeah, thanks. Not having a license stinks."

Ikuto smiled and Amu felt her heart beating hard against her chest. She had noticed that the way things were going… was really hard for Ikuto. That's why she was putting distance between them. But she couldn't pretend this wasn't hard for her too. And everything he did, seemed even more attractive. And she hated him for it. Well… hate's a strong word…

He told her he was going to treat her like a sister. That's what she asked her… So… why was she having second thoughts?

She needed to talk to Rima about that. This was a little too personal for Kukai, and she'd just feel really awkward talking about (which she also hated), so Rima was the next best thing.

Ikuto dropped her off and Amu said her thanks before knocking on Rima's door.

Rima opened the door. "Hey, Amu! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Rima! Um… can we talk?"

She nodded and let Amu walk by her into her house. They walked up the stairs to her room and Rima closed the door behind her.

"So what's going on?" she asked, sitting down on her bed. Amu sat beside her.

Amu shook her head in shame. "Rima… I think… I'm in love…"

Rima looked at her. "Okay. So?"

Amu shook her head again. "Rima, I think I'm in love… with _Ikuto." _

Rima looked at her like that news didn't bother her. "Okay? _So? _I don't exactly see a problem with that."

"Rima! Ikuto is my _step-brother!" _

Rima laughed. "Amu! We all knew there was something going on between you two. So what? Just go out already!"

Amu looked at her friend wide-eyed. "You're not serious. Rima, let me repeat myself. He's. My. Step. Brother."

Rima rolled her eyes. "Amu, listen to me. You're the most stubborn person I've ever met."

"What?"

Rima sighed. "Amu… Listen, you're in love and that's not exactly an easy thing to stop. Love… it's difficult, hard, annoying, and a pain in the butt. But it's also one of the best things that you can hope to find. And true love… that doesn't come easy. You're my best friend and I love you, but… look. It's your decision in the end, but you know what I think? I think that you're about to let a very good guy go. I can tell he really has feelings for you, Amu. You've come to a difficult obstacle—"

"Yes, our _parents _married."

"But, you'll just have to go through it. And he's the kind of guy who will stay by your side, unless you tell him to get lost. And maybe even then he'll stay by your side. I get your reasoning, okay? But sometimes you have to forget what the hell your mind is telling you, and let your heart decide what's best."

"Rima… When did you start talking like Kukai?"

"Since I read a romance novel."

Amu laughed and Rima smiled.

Amu then shook her head sadly. "But… he said he was going to treat me like a sister and nothing more…"

"Hinamori Amu. Do you really think he's going to say 'no' if you ask him out?"

She blushed. "I never said I was going to… actually, you know…"

"But you were thinking it."

Amu stood up with a smile. "You know what? Hell with reasoning! It's true, Rima! I'm in love with Ikuto! Sure, his dad married my mom, but I shouldn't care, right? I love him! I love Tsukiyomi Ikuto!"

Rima smiled up at her.

Amu gave her friend a quick hug and was about to dash out the door when she turned back around. "Rima! Could you give me a ride to my house?"

She smiled and nodded. "Sure."

(A/N: NOT ENDING HERE, YAY TORI!)

Utau had been over at Kukai's a lot at that point that his brothers were starting to get antsy with questions and assumptions.

Kukai shut his bedroom door and locked it and turned towards Utau who was sitting on his bed.

He walked over to her and sat beside her.

"Do you think it was too harsh, not going to those hang outs with our friends?" Kukai asked her.

Utau looked at him and smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, of course not, Kukai. Anyway, if we did, we would be away from each other for much longer than either of us wants."

Kukai smiled at this out of character Utau. She had a lovey dovey side.

Kukai pecked her on the lips and Utau gladly pulled him into a deeper kiss.

"Have I ever told you you're the most amazing girlfriend, ever?" he asked her.

"I could hear it once more," Utau said, smiling, kissing him again, turning the kiss passionate. Kukai pinned Utau onto the bed and hovered over her.

They would have gone farther if it hadn't been for someone pounding on the door of his room. Kukai looked up, slightly irritated.

"Kukai!" one of his brothers called. "You better not be kissing your girlfriend on MY bed!"

Kukai felt his face redden. "Shut up and of course not!"

He heard his footsteps walk off and Kukai looked back at Utau who was pinned underneath him.

"Nice family you've got there," she muttered.

"They sure respect privacy," he agreed with a smile. "Where were we?" He leaned down and kissed her when there was a honking noise outside the house. Utau broke the kiss.

"That's my dad," she informed him. Kukai shrugged and was about to go back to kissing her when she laughed and moved her head away. "Let me up, Kukai, I'm serious."

"But… I don't want you to leave."

She got up from underneath him and gave him one last kiss on his lips before walking towards the door. She looked back at him before leaving and smiled. "Don't worry. I couldn't stay away from someone I love for very long."

Ikuto was washing the dishes, when he heard a knock on the door. He walked over and opened it.

"Hi Ikuto!" the person said in front of him. Ikuto groaned. He didn't really want to see this girl at that moment. Lulu.

She embraced him, but he didn't hug her back, and she walked inside the house, uninvited.

Ikuto glared at her. "Lulu. What the _hell _are you doing here."

"Just visiting, Ikuto. Utau's not being very nice to me and not letting me hang out around her. I'm hungry!" (A/N: Lulu is going to be out of character.)

"I wonder why," Ikuto murmured under his breath. Lulu walked into the kitchen and Ikuto had no choice but to follow.

Lulu was Utau's cousin who was not liked by practically everybody. Utau had asked him to do her a huge favor. Take Lulu on a date. Ikuto had declined that, but since Utau was his friend, he took Lulu on one small date. But it's not like anything happened. After that, Ikuto just did things normally, but Lulu kept on bugging him, thinking that that date actually meant something.

He didn't get her. She was pretty, and she could probably get lots of guys (not Ikuto, of course) but all she who knows what she did to keep those guys away. He knew this, Lulu was a control freak.

He hadn't heard from her for a while , which was a blessing, and she had stopped coming over (probably because Ikuto had stopped letting her in), and then she moved away, which was one of his happy days. Why would she want to visit?!

"Ikuto, are you dating anybody?" she asked, turning on him. Great. That's why.

"Lulu, you do know there is absolutely nothing between us, right?

She ignored him and moved closer to him. He stepped back.

She smiled "So I take that as a no? You're not taking someone?"

"Lulu, I'm not going to date you." She tried to move closer but he held her shoulders back so that she wouldn't.

Yeah, he wasn't in the mood for Miss Lulu.

"Kiss me, Ikuto," Lulu said, smiling widely.

"Over my dead body," Ikuto spat out.

"Don't be mean, Ikuto. Why don't you want me?"

"'Cause you're annoying as hell and I've never actually liked you."

"Sure, of course," she said sarcastically. "I still want you to kiss me."

"No."

"But, Ikuto! We haven't kissed in such a long time!"

"We never kissed!"

"Kiss me!"

"No!"

Suddenly, Lulu was pulled away from him. Her eyes were wide and his were too.

She was turned on her heels and faced… Amu?! Ikuto stared at her, baffled.

"What do you—" Lulu started before Amu slapped her face so hard Lulu let out a cry of pain. Lulu grabbed onto her face and held it. "You bitch!"

Amu then turned towards Ikuto. He noticed her face was red and she was gritting her teeth. She then grabbed the scruff of his shirt, pulling him down towards her. She turned her head back towards Lulu and glared at her. There was something in her eyes he hadn't seen before and he smirked. Jealousy.

"Stay the hell away from my boyfriend, bitch," Amu said, making a wide-eyed Lulu and Ikuto even more wide-eyed.

That's when Amu pulled him even closer and she crashed her lips into his.

Ikuto was very, very confused and very, very surprised. Everything had happened so fast, and there was Amu, kissing him in front of a cursing Lulu.

Ikuto closed his eyes happily and when he opened them again when he heard a door slam closed. He realized Lulu had left. Hallelujah.

Amu broke her kiss with him and looked down.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Ikuto was still a little dazed at what had happened. "Amu?"

Amu shook her head and pressed her lips against his, where he gladly kissed back. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and then broke the kiss, staring at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Boyfriend, huh?"

She blushed and looked down.

"Amu, it's not that I don't like kissing you, because I love kissing you _a lot, _I don't think sisters kiss their brothers like that."

Amu nodded. "I know…" She looked up at him and he smiled at her. "Ikuto, I've been doing some… thinking."

"That's new."

"Shut up!" He laughed softly and she blushed even more. "Ikuto… I don't like that girl, that was in here."

Ikuto smirked at her. "Nobody does. Not even her own cousin, Utau."

"When I saw… her trying to kiss you…," Amu continued. "I realized that it would be really hard for me to see you with anyone else. And I'm… sorry for what happened at the beach."

Ikuto tensed slightly, remembering Chad, but he just nodded his head, waiting for her to keep going.

"Um…," Amu said. "I need to stop… listening to my head, Ikuto. I need to listen to my heart."

He smiled slightly. "So… that means… You weren't just telling Lulu I was your boyfriend…."

She blushed violently. "I… want you to actually be… my boyfriend." She buried her head in his chest, which gave Ikuto the right to smile so widely, he looked almost high.

But he needed to make sure all boundaries are broken. "Amu, do you still want this, even though—"

"Our parents are married?" she finished. "Yes, Ikuto, yes. You, um… like me back, right?"

Ikuto looked away and shook his head.

"O-oh, I—" Amu started in a soft voice.

He laughed and twirled her around. "Amu, I don't like you. I _love you!" _

She blushed and smiled. "Well then we were two people whose parents got married and we fell in love."

Ikuto kissed her again. "It could happen, right?"

"Definitely," Amu said softly. She then leaned upwards and kissed him again and they turned the kiss much more passionate. They were both smiling throughout the kiss.

(A/N: NOT THE END! :D :D Oh, and sorry for Lulu's out of characterness with Ikuto. I just needed her to kind of fill that part, you know? Haha, Amu got a little violent there XD 'Till next time!)


	14. Chapter 14

(A/N: I regret to inform you that this will be the last chapter Here it is, Chapter 14. I do NOT own Shugo Chara. Please review!)

Chapter 14

Amu walked into Ikuto's room and opened the door. She stood in the door way and smiled at seeing her boyfriend sleeping soundly in his bed. Amu walked in quietly and knelt beside him. She gently brushed the bangs out of his face and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.

His eyes snapped open. "Amu?"

She smiled at him. "Sorry, but I had to wake you. Yaya is having a party and invited us. Do you want to go?"

"Who's going to be there?" he asked, half asleep. He sounded so cute when he was drowsy!

"Yaya, Rima, Kukai, Nagihiko-kun, Kairi-kun, and Utau-chan," Amu said softly. "And me."

"Hmm…. I guess if my girlfriend is going a should go to," he said in a low voice.

Amu smiled. "You don't have to. I just thought you should know."

Ikuto shook his head and sat up. "No, no, I'll go." He looked at the clock on his bedside table. "Dammit… why is her party so early?"

"Not to mention unexpected," Amu agreed. "Sometimes Yaya just really wants an excuse of having everyone over and eating sweets for hours on end."

"How about half an hour and then me and you go to the movies?"

Amu smiled. _Movie date. _"That sounds nice."

Ikuto nodded, his eyes closed. "I thought you'd like that."

He yawned and Amu had the urge to exclaim, "Awwww!" but she held it together.

"Get dressed and I'll meet you down stairs," Amu said, standing up, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before leaving.

She was humming a song she couldn't find the name of as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was surprised to see her mother there.

"Oh, hey Mom!" Amu said with a smile, giving her mom a kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning, sweetie. You seem in a wonderful mood today! Have a nice sleep?"

Amu nodded and smiled. "Oh, hey Mom, it's okay if Ikuto and I go over to Yaya's house for a small party, right?"

Midori nodded with a smile. "Yes, of course! Oh, I love how you and Ikuto get along so well!"

Amu looked at her mom and gave her a small smile. "Oh you have _no_ idea, Mom."

That's when Ikuto walked into the kitchen and walked over to the fridge to get some milk.

"Good morning, Ikuto," Midori said with a smile.

"Morning," Ikuto responded. He drank a glass of milk before grabbing his car keys and taking Amu's hand and leading her to his car.

They got in and drove to Yaya's house. When they got there, Maroon 5 was blaring out of the stereo system so loudly that they could hear it from outside.

Amu rang the doorbell and they waited for a while. She rang again and she heard someone call out. "I'll get it!"

Yaya opened the door and smiled at them. "Hey! Amu-chi! Ikuto-kun! You made it! Come in, come in! Yaya is so happy you guys could make it!"

Yaya led them to the living room where the others sat on the couches or on the carpeted floor. Yaya went over to the stereo and turned it off. The others greeted them and Ikuto and Amu sat on a couch with Utau and Kukai. Amu noticed that Kukai's arm was around Utau's shoulder. Amu smiled. She was really happy for him.

"Hey! Yaya thinks we should all do karaoke!" Yaya exclaimed.

The others were hesitant with that idea, but it was hard to change Yaya's mind once she was set on something.

"I hate karaoke," Utau stated.

Kukai laughed. "Really? Utau, you're like the best singer I've ever heard!"

Utau blushed slightly.

"Utau, don't lie," Ikuto said. "We all know that you love singing in front of others."

"Just shut up, Ikuto, okay?" she grouched. She then turned to Kukai slightly. "You, uh… really think I'm a good singer?"

Kukai smiled at her. "Would I lie to you?"

"Depends on the circumstances."

Kukai laughed and Utau blushed.

"Who wants to go first?" asked Yaya excitedly.

"Utau does," Nagi said. Utau shot him a dirty look.

Yaya skipped over to her and handed her a microphone and her iPod. "Pick whatever song you want under 'Karaoke.'"

Yaya sat on the floor next to Kairi as Utau made her selection.

The music started playing and Utau began to sing Mine by Taylor Swift. Kukai wasn't kidding. She was really amazing.

_"You were in college working part time waiting tables," _she sang. _"Left a small town never looked back. I was a flight risk, with a fear of falling, wondering why we bother with love if it never lasts. I say, can you believe it? As we're lying on the couch. The moment I could see it, yes, yes, I could see it now. _

_ "Do you remember we were sitting there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing that's ever been mine! _

Utau smiled at Kukai and his eyes widened. Was she… directing the song to him? His cheeks reddened. But… did her parent's fight a lot? Since he was thinking about it… He didn't remember her dad being at the wedding…

_"Flash forward and we're taking on the world together," _she continued. _"And there's a draw of my things at your place."_ Kukai's eyes widened even more. Did she want to move in with him? He didn't even have his own place! _"You learn my secrets and you figure out why I'm guarded. You say we'll never make my parent's mistakes. But we got bills to pay. We got nothing figured out. When it was hard to take, yes, yes, this is what I thought about:_

_ "Do you remember we were sitting there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing that's ever been mine! Do you remember all the city lights on the water? You made me start to believe for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing's that's ever been mine!_

_ "And I remember that fight 2:30 a.m., you said everything was slipping right out of our hands! I ran out and you followed me out into the street. Braced myself for the good bye. 'Cause that's all I've ever known. Then you took me by surprise. You said I'll never leave you alone. _

_ "You said, I remember how we felt sitting by the water. And every time I look at you, it's like the first time. I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter. She is the best thing that's ever been mine!_

_ "Hold on and make it last. Hold on and never turn back. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter! You are the best thing that's ever been mine! Do you believe it? We're going to make it now! I can see it! I can see it now…" _

Every one applauded as the music faded away and the song ended. Utau went back to her seat next to Kukai who was still wide-eyed.

Did Utau want to spend the rest of her life with him? Was he ready for that? They were old enough to move in together… but… Kukai loved Utau but that was a big step, and he hadn't really thought of the future. He had mixed emotions about the whole thing. On the one hand, he was really happy she chose that song and directed it to him. That meant she really cared for him. But on the other hand, it seemed like she was expecting him to propose to her. Kukai looked at the ground, confused.

Utau meant the world to him… But that was a lot for a seventeen year old guy. Kukai shook his head. He loved Utau so if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, that was perfect with him. He smiled at the thought of having a family with her… and living together… and growing old together. He smiled even wider. He couldn't believe a girl like her cared about him that much and wanted to be together with him forever.

"Hey, Utau? Can I speak with you in the kitchen?" he said to her.

Utau shrugged and nodded, following him into the kitchen just as Yaya started singing.

When they were in the kitchen, he looked at her and suddenly felt uncomfortable. His face was bright red. What if she wanted to start right away? What if she was upset because he wasn't giving her everything she was hoping for?

"So, what?" Utau asked.

"I… uh, I liked your singing," Kukai said.

Utau gave him a smile. "Thank you."

"Nice, um, song you picked there…"

Utau raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I liked it… Kukai is something wrong?"

"Yeah, uh, no! I mean no! Just…" He relaxed and smiled at her. "I will."

"Huh?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you too. And I'm happy you feel that way about me." He looked at her, waiting for her to say something, but she just stared at him, completely baffled with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Kukai… what are you talking about?"

Kukai took her hand. "Your song."

Utau looked at him for a while longer, and then her eyes widened in realization. "You thought I meant-?! K-Kukai, I didn't—I mean, I wasn't trying to say _that_, but—" Kukai's heart sank. Did that mean… she didn't want to spend the rest of her life with him? Did that mean she didn't actually love him?

"So… you were just… singing the song," Kukai said. "It wasn't true at all?"

Utau sighed and sat down on the kitchen chair. Kukai stood in front of her. "Kukai… listen, my parent's fought a lot, okay? So I was a little uneasy about love. But something about you made it different, made me happy. I really do love you Kukai, and…" She blushed. "I would love spending the rest of my life with you… But I wasn't intending to say that message in the song! I mean, we're still young and all!"

Kukai smiled. He had just worried about nothing. "Okay."

Utau stood and took his hand. "Let's go back to the party, okay?"

Kukai nodded, kissing her gently. "Okay."

After a few more songs, Ikuto stood up. "We have to go now."

"What?!" exclaimed Yaya. "But Yaya's party isn't over yet!"

Amu smiled at her. "I'm sorry, Yaya… but, um…"

"I'm taking Amu out," Ikuto said simply, leading Amu to the door.

"BUT YAYA'S PARTY ISN'T OVER!" Yaya yelled at them from the living room.

"Let them go, Yaya," Rima said smiling slightly. _Finally, _she thought.

"You weren't very nice to Yaya," Amu commented as they drove to the movie theatre in Ikuto's car.

He shrugged. "The movie's going to start soon."

"What are we going to watch, anyway?"

"It's a surprise, Amu-koi."

She rolled her eyes but smiled as she looked at him. He was smiling as well. He then held her hand, keeping only one hand on the steering wheel.

"Didn't your father ever tell you to keep to hands on the wheel?" Amu teased.

"I'm sorry, do you not want me to hold your hand? I thought that's what people in a relationship do." He squeezed her hand and smirked at her.

"Shut it Tsukiyomi."

"Right back at you, Hinamori. Or are you a Tsukiyomi now?"

Amu shook her head. "My mom might have changed her last name to Tsukiyomi but not me."

Ikuto smiled as he stared at the street. "Yet."

"Hmm?" Amu asked, not having heard what Ikuto had said.

"Oh, nothing, Amu-koi."

They reached the theatre and Ikuto parked the car.

When they got inside, Ikuto bought the tickets to 'Get Smart' with Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, and Dwayne Johnson which Amu had not seen before, but wanted to see. The movie was a comedy/adventure which she enjoyed. She especially wanted to see it because it had two of her favorite actors as the lead characters.

They went in and purchased the popcorn and drinks and went into the theatre 5 where Get Smart was playing.

Ikuto led her to the back row and they took their seats. The movie started and Amu found it really funny.

It was about a secret agency. Steve Carell played a character that was trying to become a field agent. His character, Maxwell Smart, finally gets his chance when an evil organization, Chaos, finds out the identities of all the field agents. He teams up with Anne Hathaway who plays Agent 99 to try and stop them.

"This is so funny, right Ikuto?" she whispered with a smile. She turned to him and was surprised to see him staring at her intently, not even paying attention to the movie. "Ikuto?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you like the movie?"

He nodded.

"Well then why aren't you watching it?" Amu asked.

He shrugged. "There are more… interesting things to watch."

She blushed as he said this. He hoped the darkness of the theatre kept it hidden from him. She turned back to the movie and felt him put his arm around her and her as close as he could to him. She smiled. She was lucky to have him…

The movie ended and Ikuto led her to his car. She got in and thanked him for the movie.

He smirked at her. "I'm glad you liked it, Amu-koi."

"I did, Ikuto-koi. Nice pick."

Ikuto winked at her as he started the car. They drove for a while until they stopped outside of their house. They moved to the backseats of the car and Amu laid her head on Ikuto's shoulder as Ikuto held her and stroked her arm.

"You know we should tell them," Ikuto said softly.

"Hmm?" Amu asked. "Tell who what?"

Ikuto laughed gently. "Our parents, Amu-koi. They should that we're together."

Amu turned and buried her head into Ikuto's chest. "I don't want to…"

Ikuto smirked. "Amu, our parents hadn't gotten married and you were dating me, would you tell your mom?"

Amu frowned. "Sure, but that's different. I mean, we have the same parents now… and… you know…"

"I know. I think they deserve to know, though."

"But what if they don't approve?"

"I'm not asking for their approval, Amu. I just believe they have a right to know who their children are dating. Especially if it's with each other." Amu frowned and Ikuto kissed the top of her head. "I won't force you to tell them, but sooner or later they're going to find out."

Amu sighed. "I know… You're right…" She sat up. "Okay, let's go tell our parents."

They walked together hand in hand and found Aruto and Midori sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"Hello, Amu, Ikuto!" Midori greeted them.

"Hello, children. Enjoy the party?" Aruto asked with a smile. They nodded and sat on the couch across from their parents.

"Mom, Dad… we have something we need to tell you," started Amu, her cheeks a light pink.

"Yes, what is it, Honey?" Midori asked.

Amu started shifting her feet uncomfortably and stared at the ground. "Um…"

"Mom, Dad, Amu and I are together," Ikuto said.

Midori and Aruto stared at them. They looked both shocked and taken aback.

"What…?" Midori asked.

"Mom, I'm dating Amu," Ikuto said. "Amu is my girlfriend and I'm her boyfriend." Amu was blushing like crazy as they waited to see how Aruto and Midori would respond.

"Well… this is… a… um—" Midori started, completely surprised.

"Surprise," Aruto finished. "Have you been seeing each other for a while now?"

"I fell in love with her before the marriage and as every day passed, I fell in love with her more," Ikuto said. "We only just made it official because Amu thought it was wrong for us to be together."

"Which… makes sense," Midori said.

"But then I got some good advice," Amu said with a small smile towards Ikuto. "And I decided to follow my heart. Mom, I'm in love with Ikuto."

Midori and Aruto looked at each other for a moment.

"B-but your step-siblings," Midori said hesitantly. "You live in the same house!"

"I don't care anymore," Amu said. "I was already in love with him before the marriage. It… just took some time to figure that out."

Aruto smiled at them and at Midori. "Midori, our children have fallen in love. We should know how love works out by now. You can't exactly control it."

There was a moment of silence before Midori spoke. "I… always hoped that my daughter would find someone in her life that would love her and make her feel special. Who better than my own step-son?"

Amu smiled widely and so did Ikuto. Ikuto embraced her and he kissed her.

"Guess what?" he whispered, so only she could hear. "They approved."

"I know," she whispered back with a smile. "Aren't our parents just wonderful?"

"I know someone else who's pretty wonderful."

She smiled at him.

He gently pressed his lips against hers and she kissed back, but they were in front of their parents, so it was a small, sweet kiss.

"I love you, sis," Ikuto said with a smile.

"I love you, too bro," Amu said, smiling back at her boyfriend. And hey, he was her step-brother as well. But she didn't find any problem with that.

**THE END**

(A/N: And that concludes the Amuto story, My New Family. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did )


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